Prague Court Upholds Conviction of Former Dean Over Student Scholarship Fraud

The appellate court has upheld the conviction of a former faculty dean found guilty of breaching his duties in managing property entrusted to him. Under the ruling, he caused the university damages of three-quarters of a million koruna and must repay the full amount.

“These were deliberate actions aimed at obtaining money for personal use. The decisions to award scholarships were not meant to reward students — they were a way to funnel money out of the university’s accounts, beyond anyone’s control,” said Karel Velek, chairman of the appellate panel. According to him, the defendant acted in agreement with students, who effectively became accomplices, or at the very least, accessories to the crime.

How the Scheme Came to Light

Police began investigating the case in 2023 after journalists flagged suspicious financial bonus payments. According to case materials, the students involved were ones with whom the dean had closer, more personal relationships — he was on familiar terms with most of them. The defendant argued in his defense that he never kept the returned money for himself, but used it for the faculty’s benefit.

Courts found that the decisions to award the scholarships were unlawful, did not correspond to the actual purpose of the payments, and their stated justifications did not reflect reality. “This was money being siphoned out of the university’s account, and the defendant was fully aware of it. He took advantage of students who trusted him and complied with his demand to return the money,” the district court had already concluded.

“Either Return Your Diploma or See a Doctor”

According to the prosecution, the case involves dozens of unlawfully paid scholarships, with some sums reaching hundreds of thousands of koruna. One witness in the case, identified as Eliška K., told the court she had returned a total of 250,000 koruna to the dean, money she had received over a year and a half in the form of extraordinary scholarships. She said she never asked where the money went afterward.

The young woman admitted she went along with the scheme out of trust in the dean. “It was strange. It did cross my mind that the money might be used for something else, but I was afraid to say no. I felt that if I refused, my studies would be at risk. He held the highest position in the faculty and could influence my professors, and I wanted to finish my degree there,” the witness told the court.

The district court had previously commented on the students’ naivety. “If it didn’t seem strange to them that they were receiving scholarships from which they then had to hand over a tenth in cash, with no paperwork whatsoever, then either they are lying, or they should return their diplomas or see a doctor. They couldn’t seriously have believed all this was legal and a normal way of handling money,” the court stated bluntly.

Source: novinky.cz