Krejcir's billions
2006-04-06
The police seized two companies in late March owned by
escaped businessman Radovan Krejčíř. Most of his other assets
had already been seized, but the prosecutor feared the
companies might be sold before Krejčíř paid the damages he
caused at Čepro in a fraud scheme. You might think the Kč 3
-5bn taken from Krejčíř's Prague villa would cover any losses,
but that amount fell to Kč 50m and then to Kč 9.5m as the
police took a closer look. The rest was counterfeit, according to
Interior Minister František Bublan. So where was the fake money
when the Czech National Bank issued its report on counterfeiting
in 2005? In the entire country, only Kč 10.8m in counterfeit
money was seized last year. Officially, Krejčíř's bills were
basically Mickey Mouse money and barely warranted a mention
in the CNB report. Unofficially, we might never know the full
truth about Krejčíř's billions.
[Czech Republic Monopoly central bank counterfeiting]
|