Who is Radovan Krejcir?
ENCA: JOHANNESBURG - The Hawks say a team of seasoned detectives is dealing with the criminal underworld in Bedfordview, following the death of two people in an explosion at Radovan Krejcir’s pawn shop on Tuesday.
The victims are allegedly close associates of the controversial Czech businessman.
But who is Radovan Krejcir?
Radovan Krejcir has decided to make South Africa his home. But trouble seems to follow him wherever he goes.
Since he arrived in the country on a fake passport, the bodies of his alleged associates keep piling up.
In February 2010, German supercar conversion specialist Uwe Gemballa was murdered.
He allegedly helped Krejcir smuggle money into the country.
Three months later, strip club owner Lolly Jackson was shot dead.
Jackson was allegedly involved in a multimillion rand money laundering scheme with Krejcir.
In March 2011, Krejcir’s security consultant, Cyril Beeka, was also murdered.
Krejcir has not been charged in connection with any of these murders.
“He’s a dangerous person to know. Are people trying to kill Radovan and other people getting in the way? Or is Radovan’s organisation clearing house? It's pretty unfortunate that since he arrived a few years ago, the SAPS haven’t been able to answer that question," Mail & Guardian journalist Sam Sole mused to eNCA.
Although Krejcir has been accused of armed robbery and insurance fraud in South Africa, neither case stuck.
He is also due back in court next month to fight his extradition to the Czech Republic, where he has been convicted of fraud and tax evasion.
But Krejcir claims he's the victim of a political conspiracy in his homeland, and is applying for refugee status in South Africa.
The controversial businessman has denied any links to the criminal underworld.
-eNCA
Radovan Krejčíř (born 4 November 1968 in Dolní Žukov, Czechoslovakia) is a controversial entrepreneur and fugitive of Czech origin. As of 2013 he is residing in South Africa. He became rich during the 1990s and was considered one of the richest people in the Czech Republic. He fled from the country shortly after being arrested in June 2005 and resided in the Seychelles.In 2012, he was sentenced in absentia to eight years of imprisonment for fraud totalling CZK 108,000,000.In November, 2013, he was arrested and charged with kidnapping and attempted murder in South Africa.
Krejčíř studied economics at the Technical University of Ostrava. His business activities began in the early 1990s, following the Velvet Revolution. He co-founded the company Corado and amassed great wealth during the Czech voucher privatization. His activities and companies were monitored by the police since the mid-1990s, due to suspicion of illegal money transfers.
In June 2005, the police raided his luxury villa in Černošice and arrested him in association with a planned murder of a customs officer, fraud and criminal conspiracy. Krejčíř fled the house during the police intervention,which later led to the resignation of the Czech Police President Jiří Kolář. In September, 2005, Interpol traced him and his family in the Seychelles.
In April 2007, he moved to South Africa under the name Egbert Jules Savy.He was arrested and taken into custody at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. The Czech Republic started negotiations about hisextradition with the South African authorities, however, South Africa did not allow the extradition.
In South Africa, Krejčíř established contacts with the local criminal scene. He himself became a target of an attack in July 2013, when his car was hit by a remote-control gun.He figured in the murder investigation of crime boss Cyril Beeka, who was killed in Cape Town in 2011.The South African media associate him with several other murders in the local underworld.
Krejčíř was arrested and charged with kidnapping and attempted murder by South African police in November 2013.
He is wanted for tax fraud and conspiracy to murder in the Czech Republic.