Ex-Head of Czech Railways Charged After Search Uncovers 80 Million Crowns

Czech police have charged Jiří Svoboda, the long-serving former director of the state railway authority (Správa železnic). This was reported by two reliable sources and confirmed by police themselves, though without naming names or disclosing further details.

The case stems from an operation by the National Centre against Organised Crime (NCOZ), which searched Svoboda's home last November. Investigators say his safe contained 80 million crowns in cash — in crowns, euros and dollars — along with a collection of expensive watches. Just days after the search, on 1 December, the supervisory board dismissed Svoboda from his post.

Charges against five people

According to investigators, charges have been filed not only against Svoboda but against four other individuals as well. This was confirmed by the Prague High Public Prosecutor's Office. "The National Centre against Organised Crime has initiated criminal proceedings against five individuals for the offence of granting an advantage in the award of a public contract, within a public tender and public auction, related to a tender announced by Správa železnic," said supervising prosecutor Tomáš Kučera.

Besides Svoboda, detectives had previously suspected lawyer Martin Pasek and lobbyist-entrepreneur Jaroslav Veverka. Pasek declined on Friday to say whether he is among the accused. Veverka has not responded to calls or messages. Svoboda himself could not be reached either — his longtime phone number now goes straight to voicemail.

Tenders worth 20 billion crowns

Investigators had earlier established that contracts worth a total of around 20 billion crowns were under scrutiny, covering both railways and roads. In November last year, police seized documents from several construction companies.

At Správa železnic, investigators' attention was drawn in particular to the 7-billion-crown reconstruction of the railway junction in Pardubice, a similar project in Brno, and the supply of so-called "furniture equipment" for stations and stops worth 200 million crowns — benches, bins, bike racks, signage and information panels.

The Road and Motorway Directorate (ŘSD) was investigated, for instance, over the construction of the bypass around České Budějovice. According to investigators, the agency may have purchased land along the routes at inflated prices, with the money partly flowing, via lawyer Pasek and his relative, to entrepreneur Veverka. However, these ŘSD tenders reportedly were not included in the new charges. ŘSD head Radek Matl, whose premises were also searched, is not among the accused — a fact he confirmed himself.

A grandfather's inheritance and a strange flat deal

Svoboda — now the former director of Správa železnic, having left the post on 1 December last year, just days after the search — explained at the time that the 80 million crowns were savings his father had entrusted to him for safekeeping, partly derived from business dealings and restitution. He later clarified that the money came from the sale of gold left behind by his grandfather, an entrepreneur from Ústí nad Orlicí during the First Republic era. According to Svoboda, his father only learned of the gold's existence in the early 1990s and managed to grow the family fortune through hard work and frugality — trading in furs and keeping livestock under communism, and running a fish shop ever since the revolution.

It also emerged that Jiří Svoboda owns a flat in Vinohrady, bought at a steep discount — the real estate company selling it took a loss of several million crowns on the deal. One of the neighbouring flats in the same building is owned by the firm Trojek, with which Svoboda, as director of Správa železnic, signed long-term contracts for the sale of scrap metal. Prices under these contracts were never disclosed — allegedly for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz