Scams "like from the nineties". Part One: Who's Who

The first installment of the report serves as an introduction to the issues surrounding several scandals, where names like Římský, Vinař, and Stratil keep reappearing. Throughout the entire period of monitoring, the group’s criminal activity was repeatedly proven through surveillance. On some occasions, witnesses even confirmed it. In one of the monitored cases involving housing cooperatives, there are even dozens of deceived individuals.

The monitoring was conducted covertly for a year and a half. In the last six months, the reporter attempted to contact all the involved parties, seeking their comments on the cases under investigation. In about half of the cases, he received threats, police were called on him, and there were even threats to cancel insolvency proceedings. This last practice, including bullying insolvency practices, is a common tactic of the group in question. The reporter was warned about the dubious practices of insolvency administrators and bailiffs five years ago in another case. Since then, he has been intensely focused on the issue, mapping out a number of insolvency administrators, their methods, and procedures.

It poses little challenge for the suspicious group to forge signatures and documents with the help of colluding notaries and lawyers, enabling them to, for example, seize a company, “tunnel” it out, and merge it into Italy, beyond the reach of Czech authorities and institutions. The company practically disappears, even from the commercial register.

The extensive criminal activity does not stop with companies or luxury car thefts. Suspicious contacts with Hungarian frontmen or “fixers,” who supposedly “solve” problems, have already been mapped out. They originate from the area that reporter Jiří Forman names in the report. It is no coincidence that a vehicle connected to a murdered couple from Prague was found in this area.

The AKTU.cz Editorial Team