Prague, Aug 21 (CTK) – The High State Attorney’s Office in Prague has charged six people with breach of trust and most of them also with breach of compulsory rules of business transactions in the case of the Czech Export Bank (CEB), the state attorney’s office wrote on its website Friday.
They are suspected of providing suspicious loans from the CEB for projects in China and Tunisia.
The police have put the damage they caused at over 0.5 billion crowns.
Former members of the bank management are among the suspects.
State attorney Zdenek Matula, supervising the case, said the charges were brought on suspicion of two unrelated acts.
The first is an allegedly unlawful provision of a 221.2- million-crown loan for the purchase of a share in the China East Investment Limited and Metropolis Holding China Limited companies, in which the five suspects assisted, according to the police.
The sixth person is suspected of incautiously providing a 307.9-million-crown loan for the construction of a residential and commercial complex in Hammamet, a tourist seaside resort in Tunisia.
The five defendants face up to eight years in prison and the sixth up to three years if found guilty.
The police accused the group last August. High State Attorney Lenka Bradacova said the bank management members were among the prosecuted persons.
CEB director Karel Bures said then these people did not work in the bank any longer. The bank has applied processes for several year to prevent it from becoming a target of similar criminal activities, he added.