Olomouc, North Moravia, July 17 (CTK) – The Czech corruption police investigate the financial management of the OKD black-coal mining company, which was declared insolvent in May and has debts worth billions of crowns, CTK has found in the insolvency register.
Detectives from the Squad for Uncovering Organised Crime (UOOZ) are looking into suspicious transactions of OKD and the owner of the NWR Holdings B.V., which owns OKD.
OKD, for instance, vouched for billions-crown bonds and some of its property was transferred to other firms.
“The police (UOOZ) has launched criminal proceedings on suspicion of breach of trust and abuse of information and position in business, which unspecified persons acting as bodies of OKD and NWR N.V. (owner of the NWR Holdings B.V.) may have committed,” says a resolution of the Olomouc High Court, which rejected an appeal of NWR Holdings B.V. against a preliminary measure imposed on OKD and confirmed the measure on Friday.
The police have asked for documentation on OKD financial management, according to OKD insolvency administrator Leo Louda.
The Olomouc High State Attorney’s Office is supervising the investigation.
Louda pointed to the OKD’s statements that NWR group forced it to couch for its issued bonds worth 10.5 billion crowns. Then NWR did not prevent OKD from ending up in insolvency.
OKD lawyers told Louda that a forensic investigation had started.
OKD says in a report sent to the court that the flats and real estate that originally belonged to OKD are now administered by RPG Byty firm controlled by an unknown firm from Luxembourg. The OKD energy management was taken over by Veolia Prumyslove sluzby last year and some land crucial for mining is owned by Asental Land firm with a Dutch owner.
The OKD management also reports that in 2010, the company used a part of its internal credit framework of 11.8 billion crowns for the payment of dividends and other obligations to its share-holders. However, the sum should have been used for repaying the previous loan.
The OKD, which operates in north Moravia, is struggling for survival because of the decreasing coal prices. Mining is loss-making in spite of the austerity measures taken.
According to the insolvency petition from May, the OKD’s debts total more than 17 billion crowns. The firm has at least 650 creditors. ItsT property is worth less than seven billion. Over 500 creditors have already turned to court.
The OKD company has roughly 9,800 regular employees, 2,500 employees at supplier companies and 200 agency workers. Jobs of thousands of people in related professions are endangered, too.
The government is dealing with the OKD problems to decide whether and how much the state could lend to the firm for its operational costs since OKD does not have enough cash.
Its creditors will meet in August to make decision on OKD’s future.
($1=24.284 crowns)
