Embezzlement is the crime of employees, company directors, accountants, people who manage other people's money. People who had something in their hands with the other side's trust, and that trust, according to the indictment, broke. It is rarely a planned theft; more often it is an "I borrowed it and I'll pay it back" that never got done, or a dispute over what actually belonged to whom.
What the prosecution must prove
- The item was entrusted. You had it at your disposal under a contract, an employment relationship or an agreement, with a duty to deal with it in a particular way. This is the first battleground of the defence: the Supreme Court repeatedly deals with what still counts as "entrusting" and what does not.
- You appropriated it. You dealt with it as your own, permanently, against the owner's will. A delay in returning it or messy bookkeeping are not, in themselves, appropriation.
- Damage of at least CZK 10,000. Below this threshold it is a misdemeanour. From CZK 50,000, from CZK 1 million and from CZK 10 million the sentencing range goes up.
What you are facing
In the basic range, up to two years in prison, a ban on activity or forfeiture of the item. For larger damage, three months to two years; for considerable damage (over CZK 1 million), two to eight years; for damage on a large scale, five to ten years. Compensation to the victim usually comes with it.
What the defence rests on
On documents. Contracts, statements, correspondence, who handed what to whom, when and on what terms. Embezzlement is won or lost on paper before anyone sets foot in a courtroom. And with smaller sums, the route is usually compensation and a diversion, if it is done in time.
What this rests on
No advice on this page is an opinion. Each one has a section of the law and a court decision behind it. Click through, the full text is on Europaius.
Statute
- § 206 tr. zákoníkuembezzlement: appropriating an entrusted item belonging to another, damage that is not negligible, sentencing ranges by amount of damage
- § 138 tr. zákoníkudamage thresholds: not negligible CZK 10,000, larger CZK 100,000, considerable CZK 1,000,000, large scale CZK 10,000,000
- § 307 tr. řáduconditional discontinuation of criminal prosecution for lesser offences
Case law
- 3 Tdo 733/2024 (Nejvyšší soud, 13. 11. 2024)the basic element of embezzlement is appropriating an entrusted item belonging to another; the accused argued that the item had not been entrusted to him
- 5 Tdo 1006/2023 (Nejvyšší soud, 6. 3. 2024)in an embezzlement case involving large damage the court also dealt with limitation, by reference to the date prosecution was opened
A different situation?
- You or someone close to you has been detained
- Pre-trial detention is looming, or someone is already in it
- A police summons has arrived
- Criminal complaint: you want to file one, or one has been filed against you
- You have been charged with a criminal offence
- A penal order has arrived
- Alcohol or drugs behind the wheel, driving ban
- Plea agreement, conditional discontinuation
- House search
- You have become the victim of a crime
- European arrest warrant, extradition abroad
- Disorderly conduct: a brawl, a pub, the street
- Dangerous threats and stalking
- You drove while banned from driving
- Charged with bodily harm
- Damage to property
- Violation of the inviolability of the home
- Defamation
- Conditional release from prison
- Negligent homicide: a fatal accident
- Credit fraud and subsidy fraud