Swiss prosecutors seek five-year prison term for MUS ex-managers

Swiss prosecutors are seeking a five-year prison term and steep fines for six Czechs charged with fraud and money laundering in connection with the privatization of the second Czech largest coal mining firm Mostecká uhelná, or MUS. They claim that the company’s former managers used MUS’ own assets in their 1999 takeover of the firm, diverting assets worth billions of crowns to pay for the shares. The charges include money laundering, fraud and forgery of documents, among others. Prosecutor Graziella de Falco Haldemann said the crimes could not have been committed without dummy companies in Switzerland and accounts in Swiss banks.