ČTK | 7 September 2010

http://www.praguemonitor.com/2010/09/07/pr%C3%A1vo-police-halt-prosecution-big-money-laundering-case

Prague, Sept 6 (CTK) - The Czech police have halted the prosecution of the Aktiv Change money exchange company's executives who were accused of money-laundering of several billion of crowns two years ago, the daily Pravo reports yesterday.

The police have proposed that a state attorney send the case to administrative proceedings, which he did and he handed it over to the Czech National Bank (CNB), Pravo adds.

According to the anti-corruption police, it has been the most extensive money-laundering case in the Czech Republic's history.

Both executives were originally accused of laundering over 5.3 billion crowns originating from crime, and transferring the money from the Czech Republic in 2005-2008. If found guilty, they faced up to ten years in prison.

No charges were brought in the case, Prague 1 state attorney Pavla Pokorna confirmed to Pravo. Consequently, the case will not be tried in court, the paper says.

In October 2008, detectives from the anti-corruption squad raided a house in Narodni street in Prague centre in which Aktiv Change operated. Dozens of policemen, including raid police, participated in the operation that required a 15-minute interruption of road traffic.

After being laundered, the allegedly dirty money was transferred to bank accounts mainly in China and Vietnam. A big part of the money allegedly originated from tax evasion.

However, detectives did not succeed in uncovering the money origin, Pravo writes.

In March, then interior minister Martin Pecina told the paper that the police had made mistakes in the case and had admitted it.

Pravo writes, referring to two independent sources, that the state attorney decided that the Aktiv Change executives had not committed crime but only a misdemeanour. This is why he handed over the case to the CNB administrative proceedings as the foreign currency exchange office had probably violated the CNB rules.