A lower-level court in Estonia on Tuesday found former top judoka Indrek Pertelson guilty of economic offenses related to the insolvency of an exclusive sports club and handed him a conditional sentence.
Olympic bronze Indrek Pertelson gets conditional sentence for bankruptcy offenses
21st May 2013, 16:53
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The Harju regional court found Pertelson, 41, and another former member of the management board of AS Haabersti Perespordikeskus that built and ran the sports club guilty of violating the obligation to file for bankruptcy, knowingly violating the requirements concerning the organization of accounting, and not convening a general meeting of shareholders as required by law. Pertelson was also found guilty of violating prohibition on business.
Pertelson was given a one-year conditional jail sentence with three years of probation.
Co-defendant Margus Dintsenko, 33, was fined 5,670 euros of which 1,000 euros is payable at once. He will not have to pay the rest of the sum if he does not intentionally commit another criminal offense within the three-year probation period.
Both Pertelson and Dintsenko pleaded not guilty at the trial that started in February.
According to the statement of charges, AS Haabersti Perespordikeskus was permanently insolvent by Dec. 31, 2007 at the latest, at which point its equity was negative and members of the management board should pursuant to law have convened an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders and filed a bankruptcy petition with a court of law by January 20, 2008 at the latest.
The company was declared bankrupt only on Aug. 27, 2008 based on a petition from creditors. According to data gathered in the course of the investigation, AS Haabersti Perespordikeskus incurred a net loss of 15.9 million kroons (EUR over 1 mln) during the first six months of 2008 alone, which could have been prevented through timely filing for bankruptcy.
Furthermore, accounting at the company was not organized in accordance with valid requirements and Pertelson should not have acted as member of the management board during the time when he was under insolvency proceedings as private individual.
The supervisory board sacked Pertelson and the board led by him at the end of August 2008, accusing the board of constant and systemic non-fulfilment of decisions, non-fulfilment of the prudence requirement applicable to board members, and leading the company to a pre-bankruptcy state.
Pertelson's personal bankruptcy was declared by a court in October 2009. At the end of 2010 a trustee sold a semi-detached home belonging to Pertelson in the Haabersti area for four million euros (EUR 256,000).
Pertelson won bronze medals in judo in the men's heavyweight category at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics.
(EUR 1 = EEK 15.65)