Czech wanted for fraud detained in Costa Rica

A former Czech finance ministry official wanted for fraud has been detained in Costa Rica. Karel Ponocný was sentenced in absentia in 2006 having escaped from the country before the verdict was delivered. According to the Costa Rican media he was detained on an Interpol arrest warrant on the outskirts of San Jose. Ponocný worked in the ministry’s foreign debts department and with the help of an accomplice siphoned off money to his own private accounts, damaging the country to the tune of 43 million crowns.