Arrest warrant issued for one of the country's richest entrepreneurs

Police fear another Czech businessman, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued, has left the country to avoid prosecution. Tomas Pitr was found guilty of tax evasion last month and was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison. He appealed the verdict. Fearing he would leave the country, Prague's Municipal Court issued a warrant for his arrest last week. In a telephone interview with the internet news server Novinky on Thursday, Mr Pitr said he was on holiday in the Swiss Alps and had yet to decide whether or not he would return to the Czech Republic.

Tomas Pitr is one of the country's richest entrepreneurs. Earlier this year, another Czech millionaire, Radovan Krejcir, who is wanted on charges of fraud and planning the murder of a customs official, escaped to the Seychelles.