Former Czech soccer head gets prison term for fraud

The former head of the Czech Republic soccer association was convicted of fraud on Thursday and sentenced to six years in prison.

Prague's Municipal Court also fined Miroslav Pelta 5 million Czech crowns ($235,000) and banned him from an executive position for five years.

The court issued the verdict in a retrial of the case after it handed Pelta the same sentence in 2021. An appeals court canceled that ruling and returned the case back to the original court.

In the same case, the court also sentenced Simona Kratochvilova, a former deputy education minis‐ ter, to six‐and‐a‐half years in prison, banned her from working in public offices for six years and fined her 2 million Czech crowns ($94,000).

A state prosecutor demanded nine and 10 years in prison for

Pelta and Kratochvilova, respec‐ tively.

The two have denied wrongdo‐ ing and still can appeal.

The case dates to 2017 when police raided the association headquarters and the offices of FK Jablonec, a provincial soccer club partly owned by Pelta.

Prosecutors said the reason for the raids was investigating fraud involving Pelta in connection with state subsidies.

The court said Pelta used his personal relationship with Kra‐ tochvilova to influence who would receive state subsidies, at‐ tempting to cause damage worth almost 176 million Czech crowns ($8.3 million). Pelta resigned from his post a month after he was detained in May 2017.

Also, Education Minister Kate‐ rina Valachova resigned because of the scandal though she was not a suspect but a witness.