Power utility CEZ’s Deputy Chairman of the Board Alan Svoboda has been charged with insider trading, Prague State Attorney´s Office spokesman Martin Omelka announced, adding that, according to the charges, Svoboda profited from the sale of his shares, which he sold based on internal information. The suspicious transaction was reportedly being mediated by a securities dealer, and Svoboda has allegedly made a CZK1.6 million (US$68,000) profit from the transaction. Iif found guilty, he faces up to eight years in prison.

The CEZ management is maintaining Svoboda’s innocence, CEZ spokesperson Ladislav Kriz. According to the company’s legal experts, Svoboda conduct was neither a misdemeanor, nor a crime. Kriz added that the company would wait for further investigation.

In 2005, the Czech Securities Commission investigated Svoboda’s transactions with CEZ shares conducted that May, when Svoboda reportedly bought 7,500 shares for CZK3 million and sold them when the company’s quarterly economic results were published. As CEZ economic results were better than expected, the share price grew by CZK5 and Svoboda earned CZK37,500. Last year Svoboda denied that he had violated the law by the transactions, claiming that he abided by all legal regulations for the company’s management.