Prague, Feb 22 (CTK) – The Military Health Insurance Company paid overpriced advertising campaigns and the fraudulent transactions were organised by VoZP director Karel Stein, daily Lidove noviny (LN) wrote on Monday, citing the results of police investigation.
The detectives concluded that Stein initiated and coordinated the criminal activities. The organised group cheated VoZP of minimally 12.5 million crowns, the paper writes.
The real costs of the promotion campaigns were only a fraction of the price of the VoZP’s contract with marketing firms Emperia Medica, Desire line and EPV Solution, each of which usually reached slightly under half a million crowns, LN writes, referring to the police investigation.
The contracts were mostly signed for the advertising of the insurance company at music concerts of Czech celebrities, but VoZP also paid for its promotion during a football match, on a TV sports channel, in the tabloid press and on billboards, the paper writes.
VoZP officially paid 469,000 crowns for its promotion during the concerts of pop singers Bara Basikova and Jiri Korn, but the organisers of the concerts received 48,000 crowns. It paid 490,000 crowns for its promotion at a concert by violinist Jaroslav Sveceny, but Sveceny said he was aware of no VoZP advertising at all and that his promoters did not tell him about any such thing.
“I have never done advertising for Military Health Insurance Company,” said pop singer Hana Krizkova, whom VoZP officially paid almost half a million crowns.
“I sign no contracts on advertising cooperation,” folk singer Jarek Nohavica told the paper. “I organise my concerts myself and I don’t allow any advertising at them,” he said, yet VoZP officially signed a contract for promotion at his concert costing 495,000 crowns. Similar made-up contracts were related to concerts of pop singers Karel Gott, Hana Zagorova and David Koller, the paper writes.
Stein and his accomplices Martin Lafek, Pavel Vondruska a Josef Svoboda are prosecuted over the violation of the rules of public tenders. The three representatives of marketing firms were also accused of corruption. The prosecution was launched in late 2015, LN writes.
Stein did not comment on the case. He merely said he fell victim of deliberate manipulation. VoZP administrative board accepted his explanation and did not demand his resignation.
VoZP spokesman Richard Medek told LN that the case concerned Stein only marginally. He said VoZP believes that none of its contracts violated the law on public tenders.
