On a cold June day in 2016, with Britain reeling from the outcome of the Brexit vote, he flew privately into the skies from RAF Northolt, charting the course of Moscow.
Onboard the 37-seater Embraer ERJ was billionaire Daniel Křetínský, nicknamed the “Bohemian Sphinx” because of his low public profile and inscrutable approach to commercial affairs.
Eighteen years later, Křetínský almost sealed a deal that would also represent a landmark triumph for him: the 3.6bn takeover of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS).
The only thing that could stop a Czech merchant from using the British postal service for 508 years was the intervention of the UK government, which was assessing whether it poses a significant risk to national security interests.
Křetínský publicly condemned the invasion of Russia Ukraine and, according to reports, the British plan is to approve the takeover of Royal Mail.
If that happens, officials can expect to face further scrutiny of the decision.
Today, the Guardian can reveal more details about Křetínský’s business activities Russiaas well as a series of regulatory battles and a takeover saga that could set a tumultuous precedent for Royal Mail.
Meeting of Moscow
After landing at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on the evening of June 29, 2016, Křetínský and a small group of colleagues were whisked away by chauffeur-driven taxi for talks with Alexey Miller, an ally of Vladimir Putin and head of Russia’s gas giant. company, Gazprom.
Leaked documents, by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and reviewed by the Guardian, suggested that there was evidence of collusion at the highest level of Russian politics.
Details of Křetínský’s travel were revealed by leaked emails from the office of Alexander Babakov, a senior member of the Russian parliament, Duma and a major investor in Crimea.
Russia invaded and annexed the territory two years ago, in an act of aggression that, despite international condemnation, proved to be only the beginning of Putin’s territorial ambitions in Ukraine.
Babakov was one of those placed under UK and EU sanctions, following the seizure of Russian territory.
There is no suggestion that Babakov attended the meeting or derived any benefit from Křetínský before Moscow.
Photograph: Reuters
The meeting had a clear geopolitical agenda: it asked Russia to build a new pipeline, Nordstream II, which would transmit gas directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea; passing Ukraine.
That would be bad news for SPP Infrastructure, the company that owns the rival Eustream pipeline, which blows Russian gas into Europe through Slovakia.
SPP Infrastructure has been jointly owned by the Slovakian state, which owns 51%, and Křetínský EPH, which owns 49%, since 2013.
The company has a long history with Gazprom, inherited from the previous owners of the pipeline, under which it receives payment from the Russian company to pump Putin’s gas to Europe. The contract, which is completely legal under EU law, lasts until 2028. It would be unfair for Eustream to take unilateral decisions to prevent gas from flowing through Russian pipelines.
The annual reports for Eustream have been very lucrative, with SPP paying €1.56bn (£1.29bn) in dividends to its shareholders since 2016. Based on EPH, its 49% stake is listed at around €750m.
But back in 2016, that flow of gas – and money – was threatened.
Such was the risk that Prime Minister Robert Fico flew to Slovakia for talks with Putin two months later, taking Křetínský with him on his second trip to the Moscow Sphinx within two months.
Křetínský’s spokesman confirmed he was involved in “important discussions” because of concerns – which he said were shared by the US government – about the security of Slovak and Ukrainian energy if the new pipeline was built.
The spokesperson added that Eustream’s agreement with Gazprom is legally binding and that EPH’s ownership stake in the pipeline has been announced.
“By 2022, Russian gas will be a long-term and accepted part of the European and UK energy mix, where all European countries depend on the largest share of Russian gas,” the spokesman said.
“This of course changed after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and after that Eustream did everything in its power to help European countries reduce their dependence on Russian Gas.”
However, Křetínský’s dealings with Russia are understood to have delayed the UK government’s thinking about IDS proposals. In August, the Cabinet Office took the relatively rare decision to “call in” a transaction between two private businesses to investigate whether it could be a threat to national security.
The 45-day deadline for the review passed in September, meaning the government extended its investigations.
The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, was not involved in the review but asked about concerns raised in a select committee by Liberal Democrat MP Joshua Reynolds (no relation) last month. Křetínský was a legitimate businessman and did not care about his Russian connections, the minister said. He pointed out that, in 2022, the aforementioned government was happy for Křetínský to build his stake in the IDS, after a similar gap.
The Office’s desk does not comment on such reviews and it is not clear whether the officials ran the rule over other aspects of Křetínský’s business, let alone those of his business partner Patrik Tkáč.
Tkáč also has a lower profile than Křetínský, but they have been business partners for decades.
They already are co-workers at West Ham United football club The majority of holding companies within the control of Group Křetínský’s EP is 44% owned by Tkáč and investors of the “related” investment group, J&T. If Royal Mail runs a lot, Tkáč is expected to hold the same chance in the company.
In the month of June, The guard is revealed Tkáč’s J&T Banka is involved in a court case over a $6m (£4.7m) loan to former Turks and Caicos Islands premier Michael Misick, who is facing corruption charges.
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J&T Guard at the time denied wrongdoing.
There were questions about regulatory compliance in Křetínský and Tkáč’s collective efforts as well.
One hiccup in 2012 saw EPH – the owner of coal and gas plants in which Křetínský is a major shareholder, but Tkáč also holds a stake – fined €2.5m by EU regulators for allegedly soliciting electronic mail from officials.
“This policy sends a clear message to all companies that are [European] The Commission will not tolerate actions that could undermine the integrity and effectiveness of our investigations through the inspection of this information,” then European competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement at the time.
Nor was this EPH’s only brush with regulators.
It also owns a UK company, EP SHB Ltd, which was fined £23.63m last year after regulator Ofgem concluded it had played the energy market.
Delivering the promises
Křetínský has indicated that he wants to modernize the Royal Mail, raising concerns about the damage being done.
That seems all the more likely after the IDS warned last month that Labour’s plan to raise national insurance contributions would cost society £124m a year.
Some have speculated that Křetínský IDS could merge with the Dutch postal company PostNL, in which it holds a majority stake.
Larva cuts costs even bigger.
This year Křetínský’s EP Global Trade was part of a consortium that concluded a deal in the troubled French casino market.
According to reports in France, the company had indicated in 2023 that it did not plan to cut staff and that there were no sales agreements.
But as time went on, French media reported, Křetínský successfully pushed Casino to sell major supplies to competitors, despite union protests. In April 2024, Casino announced plans to cut 3,267 jobs, a decision described as a “social disaster” by one union representative.
Křetínský’s spokesman did not respond when asked about this.
Elsewhere in France, Křetínský is opposed to other potential businesses, again through fear of his intentions to target the company.
Křetínský, through his EP Equity Investment business, bid for a division of French IT company Atos, a deal that would have seen him take a 7.5% stake in the entire company.
The bonds reportedly opposed Křetínský’s condition for fear of disbanding Atos. Politicians have also raised national security concerns about the deal, which would introduce foreign ownership to the company, which plays a key role in the country’s nuclear weapons program. The opposition has discovered quite a chance for a deal.
As of today, the UK government is yet to intervene in the takeover of Royal Mail and all other brands that are not.
If the deal goes ahead, Royal Mail will become the second big business in the hands of a leading Czech investor, after the search for its history in Russia, after billionaire Karel Komárek won the bids for the national lottery license.
Like Křetínský, Komárek also counted Gazprom in its business partners and took A huge number of people are found by the state owners of Russian banks while the public lottery process was going on.
Komárek publicly condemned the invasion of Ukraine, apparently to the satisfaction of Westminster.
In a statement, a spokesman for Křetínský declared that he had done just that, describing the attack as “against the very foundations of European civilization.”
All are signs that the Bohemian Sphinx is solving its latest puzzle.