“Gergel was accused of theft”, – WRITE: www.radiosvoboda.org
Gergel denied his guilt and appealed.
The case was opened through two subsidies of the Czech Ministry of Education for a total amount of 20 million crowns (approximately UAH 36.4 million). In 2022, after the start of a full -scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, a man opened a communal center in Prague, which was to help with the adaptation of Ukrainian children and their parents. However, as the court established, the information provided in the applications was false, and the funds were not used as intended.
According to the court, Gergel has to compensate the state with 13.3 million crowns, and another 7 million has already returned. Some of the funds were spent on the purchase of housing. In addition, the parents of the children paid 2,500 crowns for food – which was contrary to the conditions of the grant.
The man stated in court that he had not spent the money, but only returned his own funds, which he previously provided in the form of a loan for the work of the center. In the final word, he said that he had created a center for “light and safety” for Ukrainian children. The court found his explanation unconvincing.
In August last year, the Prague Prosecutor’s Office sent an indictment to the founder of the Help Ukraine Foundation Vladimir Gergel because of the probable theft of subsidies that were assigned to the Ukrainian refugees integration programs in the Czech Republic.
As of April 2025, about 366,000 Ukrainian refugees were registered in the Czech Republic with the current temporary protection status.