A legal analysis of the possible results of the criminal proceedings launched by the Swiss federal prosecutor over Czech miner MUS was sent to Czech Position from an address bearing the name of the current owner of the re-named Czech Coal. It suggests that when the MUS verdicts are given, the massive company might be confiscated and returned to the state.

Czechs have been shamed by the way in which the Swiss federal prosecutor is now getting to grips with the suspect privatization scam surrounding coal miner MUS (now Czech Coal) while their Czech counterparts seemed to stand by. Czech Position has obtained documents tracing how the state holding company, the FNM, got wind of the MUS tunneling and management takeover but failed to stop it. 

Swiss detectives probing the MUS case have discovered that after its purchase of Czech engineering giant Škoda Plzeň, the controversial Appian Group transferred a staggering Kč 150 million in “consultation fees” to a Virgin Islands shell company — which in turn sent it on to firms connected to reputed Czech mobsters and a consulting firm that was advising the Czech state on the Škoda Plzeň sale.

Six Czechs and a Belgian face money laundering and other criminal charges in connection with the 1999 privatization of Czech mining company Mostecké uhelné společnosti (MUS). The Swiss federal prosecutor’s office, following five years of investigations, says top managers may have syphoned off company cash allowing themselves to take control of MUS while depositing funds in Swiss accounts.