Businessman Vareha, Known for Trading in Bark Beetles and Tax Fraud, Dies at 63

Maly Kamenec, 2 February (TASR) - Paramedics were called to a 63-year-old man in the village of Maly Kamenec in the district of Trebisov (Kosice region) on Sunday (1 February), but the efforts to save him were unsuccessful and a doctor pronounced him dead, Martina Frohlich Cinovska of the Emergency Medical Services Operations Centre has confirmed for TASR. Private TV station Joj was the first to report that the man was entrepreneur Mikulas Vareha. "An 155 emergency line operator dispatched two ambulances to the scene. The 63-year-old man was transported to the hospital in Kralovsky Chlmec following cardiopulmonary resuscitation," said Frohlich Cinovska. Vareha was detained in 2011. Based on court rulings in 2014, he served a prison sentence for tax-related fraud, as well as for failing to pay taxes and mandatory insurance levies. His actions caused huge damage to the state, amounting to some €58 million. He was released on parole in 2019. A prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor's Office charged him with carrying out fictitious trade transactions between companies that he owned or managed. Through these transactions, the state was defrauded of €58.1 million. The entrepreneur from the Zemplin area was registered as an authorised representative and partner in 77 firms, 11 of which traded among themselves in apple grafts and bark beetles. In total, they sold more than 55 million grafts and over 414 million bark beetles to each other. ko/df