Ostrava - The Regional Court in Ostrava today acquitted Czech fugitive businessman Radovan Krejcir and his trade partner Miroslav Rehounek of vast loan fraud charges.
The two men were suspected of having acquired a loan of 20 million crowns for their north Moravian company Corado Trade in 1995 at variance with law, and of failing to repay it.
The two men are innocent, the judge decided today.
The plaintiff says Krejcir had negotiated the loan with the Investicni a postovni banka (IPB) bank in 1995 saying he wanted to use the money to extend his trade on capital market.
However, he and Rehounek repaid only 2.7 million crowns to IPB.
Later, after the repayment deadline expired, Krejcir transferred his half stake in Corado Trade onto Rehounek, who, on his part, subsequently transferred the whole company onto a stooge.
The guarantor of the loan, north Moravian company Slezan Frydek-Mistek, had finally to pay more than 29 million crowns to IPB.
Judge Tomas Tkacik today said it is impossible to prove that Krejcir and Behounek intended not to repay the loan.
“This a matter of business law, not criminal law. Controversial issues between entities should be solved on the soil of business law,” Tkacik said.
The verdict has not taken effect as yet. The state attorney said he will consider whether to appeal it.
Krejcir, who escaped abroad in 2005 and lives in South Africa now, has been prosecuted in the Czech Republic on suspicion of a number of other crimes, including financial.