Detectives from the National Centre against Organised Crime (NCOZ) yesterday entered the headquarters of the investment firm Invest & Property Consulting (IPC) in Prague’s Jindřišská Street. The server Seznam Zprávy wrote that the police suspect the firm of fraud and of laundering the proceeds of crime. They have requested documents related to the company’s activities, such as invoices, contracts, bank statements and correspondence. According to Seznam Zprav, IPC used investors’ money to finance Russian propaganda in the Czech Republic.
The police have not yet disclosed further information. “I can only state that our department is carrying out criminal proceedings. We will not provide more information at this time,” NCOZ spokesman Jaroslav Ibehej told the server.
According to Seznam Zprav, detectives suspect the investment company IPC of fraud. “It could have been committed by the perpetrators under the pretext of collective investment, offering unrealistic appreciation of deposits to a wide range of people,” police said in one of the documents on the investigation available to the website. The IPC is also suspected of laundering the proceeds of crime. These are offences for which the court can impose up to 10 years in prison.
“At the moment, the Police of the Czech Republic are conducting operations at the headquarters of IPC Holding, a. s. According to my information, the investigators are interested in only one subsidiary of the holding company, namely IPC a. s. We are providing the Police of the Czech Republic with assistance and finding out further information,” said IPC media representative Roman Hrůza.
However, according to the server, the police have requested documents for nearly 100 companies and people connected to IPC’s investment business, including IPC Holding. They are looking for invoices, contracts, bank statements and correspondence, among other things, Seznam Zprávy reported.
IPC presents itself as an investment firm that will help people in uncertain times appreciate their money in trust funds. It says it manages more than CZK 1.3 billion. In May, Seznam Zprávy reported that IPC was using the money of thousands of Czech investors to finance Russian propaganda.
“It has also invested tens of millions, for example, in the loss-making propaganda business of ex-speaker Václav Klaus Petr Hajek and in his daughter’s alternative medicine clinic. Both run the server Protiproud, which, according to the Military Intelligence Service, is involved in spreading Russian hybrid influence in the Czech Republic,” Seznam Zprávy wrote. According to the server, IPC representatives also acquired the claims of the Russian bank Ural, which is on the sanctions list of companies supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine in the UK, the US and Canada.
Source: Seznam Zprávy and CTK
