Prague, Aug 13 (CTK) – Foreign gangs continued in 2015 their effort to penetrate the Czech state and public administration and the judiciary by means of corrupting junior officials, customs officers and police and by influencing the legislative process, according to a report for the government.
The report by the Interior Ministry, which the government will discuss in the weeks to come and which CTK has at its disposal, Russian-speaking and Asian gangs have long been among the strongest criminal groups operating on Czech territory.
“The share of Balkan groups markedly increased in 2015. Most of the groups had strong ties to abroad in 2015, while some were an inseparable part of transnational or international groupings,” the report says.
Asian criminal gangs proved their strong ability to cooperate in the whole Central European space last year, while at the same time they retain their ability to cooperate with their home regions in Asia.
Vietnamese groups dominate criminal gangs from Asia in the Czech Republic. They are very stable and have power centres which are led by well-known authorities.
Their main base is in Prague and several other regions.
“These centres remained connected with significant Vietnamese market places in 2015,” the report says.
It says Asian gangs focused on tax-related crime. Moderate estimates put tax evasion at dozens of billions of crowns.
“The value of goods was further artificially lowered by means of forged documents on entry of the goods to the EU territory, which in turn lowered the customs duties,” the report writes.
It said the Asian gangs are also connected with drug crime.
The Balkan gangs use the Czech Republic as a place to launder money they gain in the production and sales of drugs outside the country.
Russian-speaking newly focus on the illegal acquisition of EU residence documents which have been in great demand after the EU imposed sanctions against Russia.
The number of violent and property crimes committed by Caucasian ethnic groups increased year-on-year in 2015.
In attractive destinations of the Czech Republic, the Caucasian groups’ organised crime focuses on theft of luxury goods, the report says.
($1=24.211 crowns)
