A Million € ? Easy to Steal, Easy to Spend.

David Borkovec, a former employee of Prague 1 city hall, confessed he have stolen 34 millions CZK (1,1 millions €) over the last 9 years. His method was so simple a child could do it.

Working as an officer, his monthly salary was 18 000 CZK (600 €) (that is close to the ordinary salary of 20 000, the Czech Republic applies the politics of low salaries and low prices). He didn’t complain about it. He lived a very modest life – his biggest leisure hobbies were Sokol training (athletics) and writing of fantasy books, which have actually been published and red. He lived in a small flat and didn’t even buy a car.

What was his trick? It worked like this: he opened an account at the same bank as the city hall he worked for, and put its number into the form, instead of the city hall number. When a company wanted to rent a public space, they sent the rent to his account. This has been working just fine for the past nine years. Fatal for his enterprise became this years’ audit, that doesn’t have anything in common with his defraudations.

The police suspect him that almost the whole amount remains hidden somewhere, because they find only 2 millions CZK yet. What happened to the other 32? “It was easy to spend” Borkovec answers plainly. The maximum number of years he can spend in jail is 12. And concerning the repayment? “I will repay something. Definitely not the whole amount, that is impossible, but something for sure.”