Psychoactive Substances Seller Filmed With the Motoristé Party — The Party Denies Any Ties

In early March last year, Nikolai Lezhnev, chairman of the Association of Psychomodulating Substance Sellers (APPL), sent members of a closed WhatsApp group a message about "cooperation" with the Motoristé sobě party: allegedly, the party was ready to raise the issue of regulating psychoactive substances in exchange for 70,000 crowns, of which 10,000 had already been paid by the company CBD Svět, and another 10,000 by a certain "Dan Peony." Twenty of the group's 25 members voted in favor of the proposal.

Through its spokesman Lukáš Koutník, the Motoristé party categorically denies receiving any money from the association or firms linked to it. "The party made no such offer and never demanded 70,000 crowns," he said. In correspondence with journalists, Lezhnev himself also denied any direct transfer of funds from the association, though he left questions about his own company unanswered. The second person named in the correspondence — entrepreneur Hoang Dang Nguyen, who used the pseudonym "Dan Peony" — declined to comment on the situation.

An Interview and Deleted Photos

Two months after the leaked correspondence, Matěj Gregor, deputy head of the Motoristé parliamentary faction, invited Lezhnev onto his YouTube channel "Proti srsti," where he had previously interviewed only fellow party members. The roughly 20-minute conversation focused on cannabis legalization. Links to the association's website and Lezhnev's social media accounts were posted under the video — the same accounts that had earlier featured photos of him with MP Filip Turek on 17 November 2025, and with Gregor on Národní třída a week later, during Velvet Revolution commemoration events. Those photos were later removed.

The party's spokesman said Turek does not personally know Lezhnev and is unaware whether the two have ever met.

Dozens of Legal Violations

According to the Czech Trade Inspection Authority, Creativeland, a company owned by the Lezhnev brothers, received four fines totaling 540,000 crowns between 2022 and 2025 — including for selling cannabis products to minors. The company failed to pay three of the four fines, worth 490,000 crowns, and the case has been handed over to customs authorities for collection.

Even more troubling are the findings of the State Agricultural and Food Inspection Authority, which imposed three unpaid fines totaling 105,000 crowns on Creativeland. The inspection found that in February last year the company supplied a client with 10 kilograms of raw material, from which products were later found to contain several banned psychoactive substances. Despite three separate requests, the firm failed to provide information on the origin of the raw material, its buyers, or sales volumes.

Lawyer Jan Voborzil, who specializes in drug-related crime, believes the inspection's findings could have served as grounds not only for a fine but for criminal prosecution. However, the inspection did not refer the case to police, stating that jurisdiction over such substances lies with the authority itself.

Shortly after the largest fine of 450,000 crowns was issued, one of the brothers, Viktor Eliot (formerly Viktor Lezhnev), removed himself and his brother from the company's management, transferring ownership to a person registered at the address of the municipal office in Pasečná, in the Olomouc Region. The company currently faces four enforcement proceedings totaling nearly one million crowns.

According to Ladislav Mejzlík, president of the Chamber of Auditors, it is impossible to objectively assess the activities of Lezhnev's companies: some have no published financial statements at all, while others have filings only for 2022–2023, with no more recent data available.

Still Lobbying for New Laws

Despite all this, Lezhnev continues trying to shape the country's anti-drug policy. In mid-July he took over the e-commerce section of the Chamber of Commerce for Prague and the Southwest, and soon after announced on social media that he was in talks with Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Marcel Dlasek about changes to legislation on psychoactive substances. The ministry confirmed the meeting, noting that the initiative came from Lezhnev himself and that no further meetings are planned.

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Source: seznamzpravy.cz