Property of fugitive Krejčíř can be sold, court decides

Prague, March 19 (CTK) - Czech fugitive controversial businessman Radovan Krejcir's property can be put up for auction after the Prague Regional Court upheld recently the decision of a lower court ordering a distraint over a 50 million crown claim, court spokeswoman Zuzana Steinerova has told CTK.

The property includes a villa in Cernosice near Prague.

"The regional court in Prague upheld the decision of the Prague-West District Court on March 15," Steinerova said.

According to previous information by the Distrainers' Chamber, the claim arose in criminal proceedings when Krejcir did not pay damages.

Petra Bacova, spokeswoman for the Czech Distrainers' Chamber, said previously a court distrainer decided to seize Krejcir's real estate on the basis of judicial lien and on its sale with regard for the level of the claim.

This also includes the Cernosice villa that was officially owned by Krejcir's wife Katerina, according to previous information by daily Lidove noviny.

The villa contains a secret room, squash courts, a luxury marble staircase and a huge aquarium in which Krejcir bred a shark.

In 2011 Krejcir almost lost the house, from which he fled from the police during a home search seven years ago. His wife then forgot to pay a real estate tax of 4314 crowns and the tax office impounded the house for several days.

Bacova said the debtor can pay the exacted sum at any stage of the distraint proceeding and the auction need not take place.

Krejcir is prosecuted in the Czech Republic in connection with extensive property and violent crime. He has been sentenced to 11 years in prison, but the verdict is not yet valid. Since 2007 he has been staying in South Africa where he arrived on a false passport via the Seychelles. The Czech Republic has asked for his extradition. Krejcir also has problems with law in South Africa.