Powerful businessman Janoušek gets three years for hit-and-run

A Prague court has sentenced the influential businessman Roman Janoušek to three years in prison for grievous bodily harm in connection with a hit-and-run incident in 2012. He fled the scene after knocking down a female driver with whom he had become involved in an altercation and later failed a breathalyser test. Mr. Janoušek can appeal Wednesday’s verdict. The hit-and-run incident came just days after a newspaper published transcriptions of wiretaps giving the impression that he had held such influence over politicians and officials in Prague that he was a kind of “shadow mayor”.

Author: Ian Willoughby