Founder of Ukrainian refugee aid charity in Czechia charged with multi-million grant fraud

The Prosecutor’s Office of Czechia accused the founder of the Help Ukraine foundation, Vladimír Gergel, of fraud because he allegedly embezzled part of a grant from the Czech Ministry of Education intended for refugee integration, according to Česká televize.

The Roztyly Community Center, opened by Gergel in April 2022, just two months after the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was meant to aid in the integration of Ukrainian children and their parents in Prague.

The Ministry of Education provided the foundation with a total of 20 million crowns ($885.474) to operate a community center, according to Česká televize.

The grant money was intended for activities such as Czech language lessons and providing drinking water. A key condition of the grant was that children’s participation in the adaptation group would be free for parents.

However, Reportéři ČT discovered that the foundation was charging parents fees for children’s participation and had failed to pay its educators for several months.

According to criminal investigators, Gergel transferred about 2 million crowns ($88.604) to his mother’s account shortly after the foundation received the first 15 million crown grant ($664.535)

Later, he allegedly withdrew 6 million ($265.737) in cash from the foundation’s account and promptly paid 8 million ($354.224) for the purchase of a Prague apartment.

The police have been investigating the case since the second half of 2022 and submitted a proposal for indictment this spring. The prosecutor approved the proposal in early August, and the case will now be decided in court.

The accused faces a potential prison sentence of five to ten years.

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