Raids in the Czech healthcare industry: 12 people were detained for fraud worth millions, the European prosecutor’s office also intervened

At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the Czech National Center for Organized Crime (NCOZ) detained 12 people and conducted 42 searches in Prague, the Central Bohemian and South Moravian regions as part of an investigation into fraud with public procurement and subsidies in the healthcare sector. TASR informs about it.

This is part of the investigation into procurement and subsidy fraud, which related to several projects of “one of the main health care providers” in the Central Bohemia region. According to the Seznam Zprávy server, it is a hospital in the city of Příbram.

Hospital fraud

Since November 2023, some hospital employees and managers allegedly illegally influenced public procurement procedures and provided benefits to specific companies. The total value of these contracts exceeds 11.5 million euros. The police also searched the houses of the suspects, but after securing the evidence, they released all the arrested persons.

NCOZ spokesman Jaroslav Ibehej said that the accused were three legal entities and six natural persons who will be prosecuted at liberty. They face up to eight years in prison. He clarified that the orders related to construction works and the procurement of medical technologies.