“Energy Company Malina Faces Criminal Investigations and Customer Complaints”

Several criminal reports have already been filed in the case, which, according to Práva, are being investigated by the police.

The company is struggling with securing a large number of orders, having received around five thousand orders for the installation of photovoltaic power plants on houses this year. That’s more than she can handle, having already taken deposits for them.

People also complain a lot on social networks about the fact that the company does not want to communicate with them. “Not a word since September. It should have been finished in February, at least it would be nice to return the deposit!” “The contract was signed a year ago and we are still waiting for the installation of the photovoltaic power plant, the deposit has been paid,” rage people on Facebook.

The Práva reporter also tried to contact the company directly on Monday afternoon. But he could not find anyone at her headquarters near Wenceslas Square in the center of Prague. “No one has been there for about two weeks,” answered the receptionist when asked if anyone was at the Malina Group. When asked if anyone was asking for the company’s representatives, she said that many of her customers were.

The company promised through the media on Monday afternoon that it would face the problems head on and ensure the fulfillment of orders. According to her, the installations are continuing. It also started an audit of the status of contracts and installations of photovoltaic power plants and heat pumps. According to its co-owner Jan Urban, this is important in order for the company to get a comprehensive overview of its current state and to be able to prepare further steps to solve current problems.

“I would like to ask all customers to cooperate and fill out a simple form that can be found on the Malina website www.malinagroup.cz,” Urban stated.

The angry owners, however, do not believe him very much, according to the reactions on the Facebook court. A number of those who feel cheated by the company also contact the Czech Trade Inspectorate (ČOI). Most of the complaints are related to non-compliance with the deadline for installation, part of the non-return of money after withdrawal from the contract.

“There are consumer complaints that we reject because we can’t handle it. This is a private law dispute. For these amounts, we advise the courts, which can order entrepreneurs to return the money for a service they did not provide,” Jiří Fröhlich told Práv inspection. According to him, these are amounts from one hundred thousand crowns per consumer.

If the company does not communicate, it is recommended to contact a lawyer or directly to the court and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Even the Energy Regulatory Office cannot help consumers in this case. “This does not apply to the office by law, it is a matter of contracts according to the Civil Code,” office spokesman Michal Kebort told Práv.

Energetický Holding Malina was founded the year before last, wanting to capitalize on the photovoltaic boom in the Czech Republic. Last year, he launched a massive campaign, in July, for example, he announced that he had bought eight thousand lithium batteries with a capacity of 10 kWh worth one billion crowns in China.

As the Seznam Zprávy server (SZ) pointed out, the holding had great ambitions, among other things, it wanted to build the first factory for the production of photovoltaics in the Czech Republic, and it manufactures panels, batteries and inverters itself in China. But now he is looking for an investor and is not accepting new customers. “We work every day to solve the problems faced by Malina. Negotiations with investors are ongoing, I cannot comment on the details now,” Urban said on behalf of the company.

SZ last week pointed out also that, after the company’s troubles became public, Urban began transferring assets to his relatives in January. Specifically, the property rights were for real estate in Kladno and others in Žižkov, Prague. “It is a private matter that has nothing to do with EH Malina,” he responded to the server’s request for an explanation of the Urban transaction, to which the owner of the holding, Cyril Regner, handed over the management of the company this month.