Former owner of Mladá fronta publishing house sentenced to nine years in prison for CZK 653 million fraud

The Prague City Court has sentenced businessman František Savov to nine years in prison for tax evasion and money laundering. The former owner of the Mladá fronta publishing house has lived in the UK for more than a decade and did not appear in court in person — he does not accept the verdict and intends to appeal.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court imposed on Savov the maximum possible ten-year ban on holding positions in the management and supervisory bodies of companies, and also ordered the confiscation of land plots belonging to him along with CZK 98 million in seized assets.

According to the prosecution, Savov, together with nine other defendants in the case, caused the Czech state damages amounting to CZK 653 million. The other convicted individuals received sentences ranging from suspended terms to seven years of actual imprisonment.

The court found that between 2009 and 2012, Savov led an organized group that used front directors to control a network of companies — EastMedia, Net Advert, Astra AT, and NetFriends. These companies conducted no genuine business activity and kept no proper accounting records: they were used to issue fictitious invoices and file false VAT returns in order to obtain unlawful tax refunds.

"The ultimate financial benefit from this entire scheme went to the defendant Savov himself," presiding judge Daniella Sara Sotolářová stated. According to her, he was the one making decisions on key transactions, which is confirmed, among other things, by email correspondence.

Savov himself, through his media representative, stated that he disagrees with the court's decision. "I am convinced that the evidence and legal arguments presented clearly proved my innocence, which is why I have filed an appeal," he said, adding that he expects a different outcome from the appellate court.

Besides Savov, actual prison sentences were also handed down to his lawyer Richard Rolfes, businessmen Rostislav Berka and Jan Jelínek, as well as a taxi driver of Syrian origin, Yasser Kader Agh. Suspended sentences were given to several other defendants in the case, some of whom are also businessmen.

54-year-old František Savov is known in the Czech Republic primarily as the former owner of the Mladá fronta publishing house. Although the decision to extradite him to the Czech Republic took effect back in 2017, he continues to live in the UK, and Czech courts are prosecuting him as a fugitive from justice. The verdict has not yet come into legal force.