bpv Braun Partners led the Czech Ministry of Finance to another victory in a court in Germany

bpv Braun Partners successfully represented the Czech Ministry of Finance in an international dispute with the insolvency administrator of Viktoriagruppe, which went bankrupt in 2014.

Last week the Munich Higher Regional Court ruled in the second instance that the insolvency administrator must respect the decisions of Czech tax and customs authorities. This ruling upheld the first-instance ruling from this April.

“I am glad that the German judicial authorities have once again confirmed the legal opinion we and our client have taken in this complex and sensitive case, that a German court cannot rule on pledges established by Czech administrative authorities in the Czech Republic. That would constitute a breach of the immunity and sovereignty of the state,” stated Marc Müller, partner at bpv Braun Partners.

The value of the dispute is around EUR 5 million. Before Viktoriagruppe declared bankruptcy in 2014, the Czech tax and customs authority secured its claims to payment of taxes by placing pledges on the real property the company owned in the Czech Republic. The insolvency administrator called these pledges into question and took the case to the Munich Regional Court seeking to have them declared invalid.