The České Budějovice court fined Prague’s lawyer Adam Černý CZK 180 million for delaying the bankruptcy of Heavy Machinery Services (HMS) with a fictitious claim. With reference to the invalid judgment of the regional court, Hospodářské noviny (HN) stated this today. The lawyer, who was given 30 days by the court to pay, did not want to comment on the court’s decision. He can appeal against it to the High Court in Prague.
According to HN, due to the Black Receivable in 2014, the petition to declare bankruptcy was not approved during the review proceedings. Instead, the company ended up in a reorganization and continued to operate. Subsequently, it created debts for another CZK 150 million, thus reducing the amount to be distributed among the original creditors.
“Thanks to the conduct of the defendant (Černý – editor’s note) and his legal predecessor, the debtor retained the right of disposition in relation to the property,” said Judge Lidmila McAvoy in the judgment, according to HN.
According to HN, Černý defended himself in court by believing that the claim had a real basis. She was said to be in the wagon’s accounts and he was “in good faith that he existed.” The court refused. According to HN, Černý did not want to comment on the verdict. “It is the opinion of the court. I will not comment on it,” he said.
In the past, Černý worked as a lawyer for the former Central Bohemian governor David Rath in his corruption cases. HN writes that the court has now imposed a fine on him on the basis of a section of the law that allows creditors to be sanctioned if he files a claim that is more than twice as high as in reality. In this case, the claim did not exist. The law says that the penalty can be up to the entire amount of the illegally registered amount, which in this case is CZK 550 million.
HMS has continued the tradition of manufacturing and repairing railway freight cars. It used to be called Legios, before that it was Louny Engineering Works (LOSTR). The car was owned by businessman František Savov, who is accused of tax fraud and lives in London. The organizational and ownership structure of the company has changed repeatedly. The former Legios car is in insolvency, and has been in bankruptcy since 2014. It has no operations or employees.
Source: Hospodářské noviny and CTK
