A PACKAGE of shares – 34 percent in total – of the oil transport company Transpetrol, never changed ownership from state hands to a group of businessmen around Ignác I., the Regional Court in Žilina ruled on June 30, the SITA newswire reported.
The court found the group of businessmen guilty of three crimes: fraud; attempting to legalise income from criminal activities along with accomplices; and violating one’s obligations when administering the property of others, SITA wrote.
The defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 46 months to nine years. Ignác I. received the longest sentence, nine years.
The verdict is not yet effective as the prosecutor appealed it. The defendants may also appeal the verdict within eight days of it being delivered.
The Transpetrol criminal case has been continuing at the Regional Court in Žilina since 2002.
According to the prosecutor, 647 Transpetrol shares worth more than €66 million were transferred from the state to the hands of the group of businessmen fraudulently.
According to the Slovak Economy Ministry, this verdict will be the most important among all the 150 trials connected to the controversial Transpetrol case.
