The Special Court has found one of Slovakia's richest businessmen, Jozef Majský, guilty of fraud and of creating and supporting the crime group linked to the embezzlement of two non-banking financial institutions - BMG Invest and Horizont Slovakia - that collapsed in 2002.
The court sentenced Majský to 12 years in prison on April 28, while his accomplices Patrik Pachinger and Dávid Brtva were given sentences of 10 and 11 years, respectively. Pachinger and Brtva will also have to pay a Sk300,000 (€8,900) fine. If they fail to do so, they will have to spend an extra year in prison. They were also forbidden to conduct business for ten years. All three convicted also have to pay a compensation of Sk336 million to the affected companies.
The verdict is not yet come into effect, as the defendants and the prosecutor have the right to appeal to the Supreme Court.
According to the charges, all three men set up a criminal gang with connections in Bratislava, Košice and abroad, to embezzle BMG Invest and Horizont. In three separate cases, they allegedly tried to withdraw around Sk800 million, Sk400 million and Sk40 million from the companies.
BMG Invest and Horizont Slovakia were pyramid schemes that robbed their clients of billions of crowns when they collapsed.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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