Court issues European arrest warrant for ex-MP found guilty of fraud

Ostrava, North Moravia, Feb 12 (CTK) - The Regional Court in Ostrava has issued a European warrant for the arrest of former Social Democrat (CSSD) lawmaker Peter Wolf who was to start serving a six-year prison sentence for a subsidy fraud, court spokesman Jiri Krivsky has told CTK.

"According to police information, there is a real suspicion that he is not staying in the Czech Republic. He is probably on the territory of another European state. That is why we have issued a European arrest warrant," Krivsky said.

The court found Wolf guilty of having cheated the Environment Ministry that gave him subsidies on the basis of imprecise, distorted and false information.

He and his wife drew 11 million crowns for two projects in 2005-07.

Wolf spent a part of the money to cover his own costs. Besides, the projects were copied from the Internet.

The Ostrava Regional Court sentenced Wolf to five years in prison and fined him one million crowns.

The High Court in Olomouc, however, tightened the sentence to six years in prison and a fine of five million crowns.

Wolf's wife was given a three-year suspended sentence and a fine of one million crowns.

Wolf has written on his Internet pages that he considers the court decision incorrect and unjust.

($1=18.849 crowns)