Prague, July 25 (CTK) – Britain will probably extradite businessman Frantisek Savov, prosecuted for tax evasion and money laundering, to the Czech Republic as a British court rejected his appeal against extradition, state attorney’s office spokeswoman Stepanka Zenklova confirmed for CTK on Monday.
However, the London court’s spokesman says Savov can appeal the decision again.
“The British authorities were deciding on a legal remedy against the decision to extradite the accused man. The verdict of the lower-level court was confirmed,” said Zenklova, spokeswoman for the Municipal State Attorney’s Office in Prague.
She added that Britain must answer the question of the decision’s legal power.
Savov said via his media representatives Jan Hrubes that he would like to continue defending himself by legal means.
The decision to extradite Savov to the Czech Republic was made by a London court in July 2015. Savov, who rejects the charges, appealed against the verdict and the High Court of Justice in London turned down his appeal.
The court’s spokesman Russel Hayes told the Aktualne.cz server that Savov can file a petition for the right to appeal the verdict and that the final decision might be expected in several weeks. Savov may even turn to the European Court for Human Rights eventually, Hayes added.
Eleven people have been charged in the case dubbed Octavian. Detectives say they participated in the unjustified securing of excessive VAT deductions, totalling 770 million crowns.
Savov, 44, says the police are trying to destroy him with the aim of frustrating his business activities. Until the first half of last year, he was prosecuted as fugitive.
He said in the past he was not hiding from the Czech judiciary, but that he was convinced that his right to a just trial was not guaranteed in the Czech Republic.
Savov has been doing business in Britain since 2008, including in real state and air transport.
Last year, the Czech Constitutional Court (US) rejected as unsubstantiated Savov’s complaint about the freezing of 648 million crowns on his bank account.
The US also dismissed Savov’s complaint about the launch of criminal proceedings against him.
In the Czech Republic, Savov is mainly known as the owner of the Mlada fronta publishers, whose portfolio included the daily E15, the weekly Euro, the magazine People and the Earth, some children’ s periodicals and journals as well as firm periodicals. The group is also active on the Internet and the book market.
Some of Mlada fronta’s titles, including E15, were recently bought from Savov by CV Invest, from the media group controlled by Daniel Kretinsky and Patrik Tkac.
