Swiss prosecutors are seeking a five-year prison term and steep fines for
six Czechs charged with fraud and money laundering in connection with the
privatization of the second Czech largest coal mining firm Mostecká
uhelná, or MUS. They claim that the company’s former managers used
MUS’ own assets in their 1999 takeover of the firm, diverting assets
worth billions of crowns to pay for the shares. The charges include money
laundering, fraud and forgery of documents, among others. Prosecutor
Graziella de Falco Haldemann said the crimes could not have been committed
without dummy companies in Switzerland and accounts in Swiss banks.