Czech Republic loses blood plasma business dispute

The Czech Republic has lost an arbitration dispute with the firm Diag Human, and has been ordered to pay the company some 8.33 billion crowns, or more than 512 million USD, in damages. The feud between the Czech state and the firm, which deals in blood plasma, has been going on since the early 1990s. In 1992, then Health Minister Martin Bojar dissuaded other European companies from doing business with Diag Human, a court case found that the health minister did so unjustly, and ruled that the state should pay damages and apologise publicly. The state has subsequently appealed the ruling unsuccessfully on several occasions. Over half of the sum that the Czech government must now pay Diag Human consists of interest which has accrued on previously unpaid damages. The Czech state is likely to appeal the verdict.