Prague, March 27 (CTK) – The Prague Regional Court will issue the verdict in the corruption case of former regional governor and health minister David Rath on June 27, the judge Robert Pacovsky said on Tuesday.
In 2015, the Prague Regional Court sentenced Rath to 8.5 years in prison for taking bribes worth millions of crowns linked to the manipulated public orders in the Central Bohemia Region. His ten accomplices, including the Kott couple who were considered the masterminds of the corruption, mostly received high sentences as well.
The appeals court cancelled this verdict due to an unlawful use of wiretappings and returned the case to the Regional Court for reappraisal, but the Supreme Court ruled that the appeals court breached law to the benefit of the defendants and that wiretappings can be used in the Rath case.
Rath on Tuesday finished his speech which lasted nearly 12 hours. Like before, he pleaded innocent, challenged all the evidence and claimed he did not accept any bribes. He also thoroughly dealt with the individual public orders, analysed the court’s previous verdict against him and pointed to its alleged mistakes.
State attorney Petr Jirat proposed that Rath be sent to prison for eight to nine years and that all his property be seized.
According to the indictment, Rath and the Kotts demanded bribes of more than 48 million crowns and they managed to take over 38 million in bribes until the police arrested them in May 2012. Courts have been dealing with the case since 2013.
