A developer whose residential project in Brno collapsed in 2008 will spend the next five years in jail, according to a sentence that’s just been handed down. Rastislav Růžička, whose project Duhová Pole located just north of Brno ran into difficulties. Neary 40 customers lost their money as the apartments never received their occupation permits. Denik.cz writes that the court hearing the case found that Růžička signed contracts with customers for the purchase of the flats but had then send their money to his private account. Růžička claimed the intent was always to use the money in order to complete the project and that it was simply easier to handle the money through his own account. The court ultimately did not accept this explanation. Denik.cz reports that Růžička is also being sued for credit fraud because he signed two construction contracts for the project with two different prices on it. He sent the copy with the lower amount (CZK 60m lower) to the bank as part of his loan application process. The project itself was used as collateral for the loan, but when the developer went into insolvency, the insolvency administrator transferred ownership of the site to the contractor. The prosecutor pressed charges against the administrator over this, but failed to convince the court to find her guilty.
