Illustrative photo – New reinforcement of the hockey team Sparta Prague Michal Sýkora, who returned from the NHL team Tampa Bay, tries on the Sparta jersey after Thursday's practice in the Sports hall in Prague.
Pardubice – Today, the Pardubice court questioned former hockey player Michal Sýkora, whose company MPM Invest is in bankruptcy. The goal was to find out the assets of a company that traded in gold and silver. According to the insolvency administrator AAA Insolvency OK Sýkora, although he provided certain explanations, they seem incomplete and misleading, as they do not correspond to her findings. His companies owe their clients over 200 million crowns.
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Sýkora had previously submitted a written list of assets, receivables, advance payments and liabilities. The company has two bank accounts, does not own any real estate.
Today, the former hockey player explained the company's business model, which consisted in the fact that it traded in precious metals, especially in the Czech Republic. She tried to buy gold, silver and their alloys and sell them at a better price. In addition, it also lent gold to two other companies, Mošna and GZ Metal. On the periphery, MPM Invest processed precious metals into jewelry, which it then sold. For the sale of metals, the margin amounted to one percent, for products tens to hundreds of percent.
Creditors wanted to clarify why Sýkora offered clients interest on loans for the purchase of precious metals in the amount of ten percent per year, when the profit from the sale represented units of one percent. The former hockey player explained this by saying that gold sales were made on a weekly basis with a margin of several percent. The company lent gold to other companies at an interest rate higher than the client's interest.
The Mošna company had to pay 18,000 crowns per month for every two kilograms of gold lent, for a total of 198,000 crowns were invoiced to it each month. Monthly bonuses totaling 120,000 crowns were agreed with another company, GZ Metal.
MPM Invest bought precious metals or obtained them from clients as a loan. As a high-turnover commodity, gold was stored in company safes, and buyers received it within a day to a week after purchase. She also used safe deposit boxes at the Pardubice branch of ČSOB. Precious metal refineries also took part of the production.
Sýkora stated in court that he had business relations with the companies Mošna, GZ Metal and První česká zlatnická, which gradually stopped paying for gold transactions and owed him 100 million crowns. He didn't want to exact them because they were all planning to create one big company that would dominate the market. Enforcement would also be costly, and he believed he would ultimately be able to raise many times more money for creditors through the newly formed entity. However, this did not happen, today some claims are time-barred.
Sýkora founded two initially successful companies The Golden Investment and MPM Invest in the past. Before the arrival of covid, however, he got into a debt spiral, which he solved with repeated loans. Both of his companies are now bankrupt and Sýkora himself applied to the court for debt relief. Some hockey players are among his creditors, the highest claim of over 25 million crowns was claimed by national team forward Roman Červenka.
Chairman of the creditors' committee Jan Gajdoš told ČTK that MPM Invest should have precious metals in its assets, but she does not own the statements and does not have the money she should have received for them. He pointed out that for a long time the companies did not pay the companies to which it lent gold.
Sýkora is the world champion from 1996 and 2000, he also played in the Olympic tournament in Salt Lake City 2002. He played in the NHL for San Jose, Chicago , Tampa Bay and Philadelphia, including the playoffs he has 274 games.
