Olomouc court trial over CZK 106 million in unpaid taxes, Czechia

A trial has begun in Olomouc of three people accused of tax evasion. Pavel Široký (51), Gabriela Široká (50) and Karel Schlosser (57) face up to 10 years in prison, and the company faces a fine. Prosecutors say the state lost more than CZK 106 million. All three deny guilt.

What the defendants say

Schlosser did not attend the hearing: he apologized, and the court accepted his excuse. The trial resumes on Tuesday.

Široký, the head of the accused company, said he categorically rejects the charges and feels innocent. He said he never gave any instruction to reduce taxes and that the damage is “invented.” He read out a lengthy statement, saying he did not understand why he had been charged at all when, over a ten-year investigation, experts and witnesses had concluded that everything was in order. He also said he is proud of his work and suggested that envy may have played a role. He declined to answer the court's questions.

His wife did the same. She rejected any involvement in helping to reduce taxes and called the construction of the indictment purely speculative and unsupported by evidence.

What the defendants are accused of

According to the prosecution, between 2014 and 2018 in Olomouc and other places, costs for allegedly fictitious brokerage services in Czechia and abroad were unlawfully included in the tax returns of PSA TRADING CZ. This includes the sale of cars on foreign markets, above all in German-speaking countries. Evidence was gathered through international judicial cooperation from several European countries, and the prosecutor has proposed questioning dozens of witnesses.

Prosecutor Jan Beránek said the defendants prepared the crime in advance and agreed on it: according to him, Široký evaded tax on a large scale, and the other two made it possible.

Around Prague guide on this topic: Налоговая декларация в Чехии: как подать за 2025

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz