Eight jailed over collapse of largest Czech credit union

The District Court of Ostrava has sentenced eight people to imprisonment for the collapse of the country’s largest credit union, 1. Družstevní záložna Ostrava. The list of charges against the bank leaders and managers of associated companies reportedly took the judge two hours to read. The sentences ranged from four to nine and a half years, with the longest term being handed down to the bank’s director, who was found to have caused roughly a billion crowns in damages. The case has been underway since 2005 and two other people have already been convicted.