The Prague Post
http://www.aaaradiotaxi.cz/index.php?xSET=lang&xLANG=2
July 7th, 2008
Reader's SurveyNEW     Endowment Fund     Book of Lists ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Real Estate Prague Prague Rentals Prague Apartments Prague Art & Antiques

Home » Archives » News

Alleged mob boss Krejčíř nabbed

Surprise arrest in South Africa brings notorious fugitive closer to justice

By Hilda Hoy
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
May 9th, 2007 issue

ČTK
Radovan Krejčíř fled amid accusations of massive fraud. His high-profile lawyer, Tomáš Sokol, has reportedly never lost a case.
enlarge
You can run, but you can’t hide.
Czech authorities are rejoicing now that one of the country’s most notorious fugitives, alleged mob boss Radovan Krejčíř, is in prison in South Africa after nearly two years of eluding justice in an international game of catch-me-if-you-can.
Krejčíř is accused of massive fraud to the tune of billions of crowns, tax evasion worth 3 billion Kč and conspiring to murder a customs official.
He’s also been convicted of smuggling. After giving police the slip in June 2005 while they searched his Prague home, he made his way to the Republic of Seychelles, a tiny island nation off the eastern coast of Africa. He lived there, untouchable to the Czech police.
But the jig was up April 21, when South African authorities arrested a shocked Krejčíř as he stepped off a plane at the Johannesburg airport. He was traveling on a fake Seychelles passport under the name Egbert Jules Savy, and authorities believe he was intending to settle in South Africa, according to a press release from the South African Police Service.
Now, Czech authorities are wasting no time pursuing Krejčíř’s extradition to Prague. The process has so far moved along smoothly, and the Justice Ministry is cautiously optimistic, said spokeswoman Zuzana Kuncová.

“We don’t dare even speculate about the length of the process of extradition. It can take months,” she said. “We are trying our best, so we hope he will [be brought to justice]. But now we have to wait for the decision of South Africa.”

No extradition treaty exists between the Seychelles and the Czech Republic, and Czech officials traveled to the nation in February to take steps toward creating one. In the best-case scenario, a treaty could have been ratified by this fall, Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil said at the time.
But a treaty already exists with South Africa, and has twice been used successfully to extradite Czechs, Kuncová said. Thus Krejčíř’s move to South Africa has significantly fast-tracked the fight to bring him to justice.
The Justice Ministry sent a request for preliminary custody to South African authorities April 24, the first step in the extradition process. The ministry is now working on a formal request for extradition, which must be received within 40 days of arrest, Kuncová said.
At a May 2 court appearance, the date for Krejčíř’s bail hearing was set for May 17.
No tropical paradise
The Krejčíř case has had the Czech media rapt since his famous escape from police in 2005, and this latest twist has fueled the public’s interest in the flamboyant criminal.
A mug shot released by the South African police shows Krejčíř at the time of his arrest looking grim and tired, sporting a slight goatee. Eleven days later, he appeared in court looking chipper and clean-shaven, dressed in a dapper suit and smiling for the press.
It’s all part of his game, said Bohumil Šrajer, spokesman for the Office for Foreign Relations and Information (ÚZSI), which has kept tabs on Krejčíř for years.
Šrajer describes a cunning, manipulative man, one who regularly contacts the media to plant stories of his own importance. Last August, he told daily Mladá fronta Dnes he had given intelligence the slip and traveled to Europe from the Seychelles twice, to withdraw money from his European bank accounts and go skiing. On May 4, he told tabloid Blesk he had bought a home and a business in South Africa shortly after being arrested there.
He’s also published two books in which he claims knowledge of corruption among high-up Social Democratic Party politicians and police officials.
Those claims are ludicrous, Šrajer said. “[He] tried to create the impression of him having a good time in the Seychelles. The reality was that he had neither very much money nor that many friends.”
The ÚZSI trailed Krejčíř during his entire stay in the Seychelles, and knew about his trip to South Africa far enough in advance to tip off authorities there, he said.
Karel Randák, former director of the ÚZSI, agreed Krejčíř isn’t what he makes himself out to be.
Of the man he spent nearly two years investigating, Randák said, “I don’t think he’s too clever. Moving to the Seychelles was his biggest mistake” because it’s such a small country.
Life in the Seychelles was no paradise either. Instead, Randák paints a picture of a frustrated man living a lonely life “more modest” than he would’ve been accustomed to.
“He had just enough money for normal living [and] tried to establish some business there and didn’t succeed.” Krejčíř’s car rental company was a bust, he said. Unable to withdraw money from his European bank accounts, Krejčíř had visiting Czech friends bring him cash on several occasions. “Let’s say $10,000 [each time],” Randák said.
Krejčíř had only one or two friends in the Seychelles, and his way of conducting business brought him “some troubles with some members of the Seychelles government.”
Plus, there was trouble at home, and his marriage was falling apart. When Krejčíř left the Seychelles, he left his wife and teenage son behind.  
For now, it looks as though Krejčíř’s loneliness and frustration will continue as he spends his days waiting in a South African jail cell.
Naďa Černá and Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Hilda Hoy can be reached at hhoy@praguepost.com


survey banner


Other articles in News (9/05/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Book of Lists

Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.