Court extends Rath's sentence for corruption by one year to eight

An appeals court on Tuesday extended former Central Bohemia governor David Rath's previous seven-year prison sentence in another branch of his corruption case by one year, and Rath, found guilty of accepting bribes and manipulating public tenders, will have to return to jail for several months at least. The High Court in Prague found Rath guilty, as it found the Metrostav construction company and its subsidiary Metrostav Infrastructure and upheld the companies' previous three-year ban from public procurement projects. Rath also has to pay 13 million crowns. The court softened the financial punishment, which the lower-level court imposed on Rath in January 2020, by five million crowns.