Racer Josef Král steps away from Czech TV Nova over debts

Nova TV commentator and racing driver Josef Král has temporarily suspended his work on television. The reason is a review of his debt relief procedure: the trustee and the court are examining how the 36-year-old athlete is paying off obligations running into millions.

Five years passed, the debts remain

Král applied for debt relief in 2020. In August this year the five-year period expired, after which a court may forgive the remaining balance. But trustee Michal Žižlavský is in no hurry with the final report and has launched his own investigation. The Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem has asked Král for further explanations.

Lawyer Jan Vondráček, who represents the largest creditor, considers the course of the procedure unsatisfactory: according to him, Král “shows absolutely minimal willingness to repay his debts.” In the procedure the racer reports a net salary of around 20,000 crowns a month with occasional bonuses from the company Praga-Export. According to the schedule, only a little over three percent of the debt should have been repaid by August. Meanwhile, on social media he showed trips abroad, races and cooperation with brands such as Shell and one of the large Czech banks.

A representative of one of the creditors wrote to the trustee that Král either has undeclared income or should “give up his pursuit and find another use for himself.”

What Král says

The racer rejects the objections. He says he is paying off his debts and that the situation upsets him. “Throughout the whole court process nobody said anything, and as soon as the deadline passed, they are trying to deliberately create the impression that I did something wrong,” he said. Král wrote to the court that he is trying to earn more: “During the procedure I raised my base salary from 20 to 27 thousand.” He rejected the advice to change profession: “My qualifications, apart from sport, are not needed for anything else. Where else could I earn money?”

Nova confirmed that Král decided to suspend his participation in the project, and that it learned of his situation only on 7 September from the court’s inquiry. “Given the current situation, Josef Král decided on his own initiative to temporarily suspend his work on the project in order to concentrate fully on resolving it. Nova respects this decision,” said the channel’s spokesman Jakub Aichler.

What this means for the debtor

A court can cancel debt relief if the debtor hides income or fails to meet essential obligations. “Courts have cancelled such procedures more than once,” noted Jarmila Veselá of the analytics firm InsolCentrum. The debtor must then repay the entire outstanding balance, plus late-payment interest. Suspicion can arise, for example, from paying for a holiday abroad if the declared income did not allow it.

But evidence is hard to find: there must be a well-founded suspicion of dishonest intent, Veselá stressed. According to the organization Člověk v tísni (People in Need), the amount repaid depends on the debtor’s income.

Král’s debts arose from apartments in the Ústí Region that he bought up together with his parents. No contributions were paid to the owners’ associations for these apartments, and it is now those associations that are his creditors. One of the largest is the owners’ association in Borová, according to the debtors’ register.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz