Who robbed the #CzechRepublic by 2.5 billion CZK?

In the recent Czech elections, a number of major business scandals were temporarily pushed into the background: but the coming to power of billionaire Andrej Babiš suggests that the 63-year-old oligarch and former finance minister will fight corruption rigorously and restore order to the economy by putting closing loopholes and putting a stop to ‘shadowy’ deals.

Like the current US President, Mr. Trump, Andrej Babiš comes from the business world, and is widely considered to be a strong business executive. Almost immediately he expressed his interest in eradicating the myriad of fraudulent schemes that cheat the Czech people.

One of the first names to come under the spotlight was that of Czech businessman Daniel Rudzan.

He became famous for working with the Iranian born Czech businessman Shahram Abdullah Zade; together they were implicated in several fraudulent schemes. Taking a loan of €25million from Zadeh, the "entrepreneur" created a chain of entities reselling fuel from Slovenia and Germany.

Hundreds of millions of litres of gasoline were allegedly involved.

Police, having conducted searches in the house of the lawyer Dokladal, stumbled upon seven million crowns and a luxurious Maserati.

At the same time, it is alleged, Daniel Rudzan was the architect of a dubious business venture  which cost the state budget of the Czech Republic almost 2.5 billion CZK, whilst Peter Dokladal was named as an "assistant".

Rudzan was alleged to be the organiser of all the financial transactions, but the lawyer Petr Dokladal provided legal cover. This was confirmed by investigators in the case of the Persian merchant Shahram Abdullah Zade, who managed to prove that part of the accusations against himself were not grounded.

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The fact is that Rudzan and the Report used white horses for their "dirty" deals - flawless companies that sold illegally imported fuel to the country through shell firms created by Rudzan. The main three companies that imported gasoline from Germany and Slovenia to the Czech Republic later "poured" it over the gas storage facilities of seven dozen enterprises, and those in turn, brought fuel to the market and sold it bypassing taxes.

"They controlled financial flows in companies with high VAT responsibilities, and they looked for other people in the role of the so-called white horses to whom they transferred the enterprises," investigators say.

No less than thirteen persons detained in this case testified against Daniel Rudzan and named him as the chief instigator of the scheme. According to them, Rudzan brought 409 million litres of fuel to the Czech Republic and is alleged to have failed to pay the charges that are due in such cases.

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The testimony of these witnesses heavily strengthens the allegations of "tax lawlessness" levied against Rudzan, which already draw on the organisation of a criminal group, for which, according to the laws of the Czech Republic, carry a prison term of 9 to 13 years.

However, in a twist, Rudzan is alleged to have framed Shahram Abdullah Zadeh.

Rudzan remains one of the shareholders of the investment company PPS, which operates in the Czech Republic.

The actions of Daniel Rudzan and Petr Dokladal are closely watched not only by law enforcement and tax authorities in the Czech Republic, but also by interested parties in Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Latvia, Italy, the Netherlands and Liechtenstein.

The light of justice may soon be shone upon the activities of companies and partners associated with the shareholders in the Austrian and Czech republics. And if the unlucky business associates of Rudzan are called to task, and they point to him as the architect of a dubious network, Shahran Zade may very soon be acquitted, and the court will pass a verdict against the truly guilty that they might not appreciate.

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