Czech sport is rocked by a cheating scandal that is spreading to Europe. Ivo Kaderka (60), President of the Czech Tennis Association and the European Association Tennis Europe, has been in custody since last week. There is solid evidence that he embezzled state funding, as prosecutor Ondřej Trčka confirmed.
Police and investigators from the National Center for Combating Organized Crime conducted raids over three days, focusing on the tennis association. Five people or five companies are accused of fraud or corruption. There is a risk of between five to ten years in prison for fraud or two to eight years in prison for corruption offenses. Kaderka and another influential tennis official, former tennis professional Vojtěch Flégl (56), are in custody, while the other three are being prosecuted at large. Among them is Daniel Vacek (52), a three-time Grand Slam winner in doubles (Paris 1996/1997 and New York 1997).
Kaderka came into the investigators’ sights after the settlement of a grant amounting to 65 million crowns (2.56 million euros) for the final of the Billie Jean King Cup in Prague 2021. The public radio “Český rozhlas” reported, that parts of it ended up with Kaderka’s people or his daughter. The funding distributed through the “National Sports Agency” is also said to have been embezzled. Almost a third of all funding from two years ago – a total of 5.5 million euros – is said to have gone to a single association: Orel Jednota Prague, whose chairman is Voitech Flegl, a board member of the association and a close confidante of Kaderka. Flégl’s club was supposed to use it to finance tennis tournaments and, among other things, commissioned his wife’s companies. According to investigators, fictitious invoices were also made.
Kaderka has been “master” of Czech tennis for 26 years and is considered untouchable in the scene. He is known for being tough on his opponents and has been the subject of several controversies. However, he seems to have suspected. that the noose tightens. Last year he separated from all of his real estate assets, in return his second wife Darina, who is 21 years his junior, “acquired” houses and properties in various parts of Prague and the Czech Republic, even though she officially only earns 3,000 euros per month. She is also chairwoman of the women’s basketball club Slavia Prague, which is founded and managed by Kaderka. The club plays its games in a brand new, multi-million dollar complex, which is also home to the “Krpalek Academy” of the two-time judo Olympic champion from Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2021, Lukáš Krpálek (33). He is Kaderka’s son-in-law.
The sporting environment in Austria’s neighboring country is often plagued by subsidy scandals. Seven years ago, the then president of the Czech Football Association, Miroslav Pelta, spent a month in custody. He and Simona Kratochvílová, a section head in the Ministry of Education, were sentenced to six and six and a half years in prison, respectively, in April 2023 for corruption. Pelta is still active in football: as president of the first division club FK Jablonec. Because the judgment is not yet legally binding.
2024-03-04 21:18:00
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