Unblocking a Bank Account

Has your bank account been blocked without warning and without justification? Your business is forced to stop and you do not want to lose clients or important business?

Unfortunately, such a problem can happen not only to the legal entities, but also to any natural person, even with small volumes of transactions on the account.

Solving this problem can take a few hours, but also several years, and can be resolve by your banker or by judicial proceedings.

Account holders in banks regularly encounter a very unpleasant and threatening business problem – blockage of funds or even closure of an account, often without warning and explanation by the bank.

Possible reasons for the blockage of funds deposited in bank accounts:

• decisions of tax authorities, for example due to the delay with tax payments or due to the violation of the rules for filing a tax return
• change in the bank’s internal policy or legislation, including directives of the European Central Bank and the Czech National Bank
• enforcement of a court or administrative decision, if the debtor’s accounts are secured in order to repay the obligations, the bank will transfer the amount of outstanding debt to the creditor’s account
• the bank has found out that the executive director (statutory body) of the company who opened the account is not a resident in the Czech Republic
• error of the public authorities or company internal error
• AML check

Due to the tightening of legislation which regulates the banking activities (including account management), the most common reason for the blockage of funds is currently a suspicion of the Financial Analytical Office of the Czech Republic (FAÚ) of money laundering or terrorist financing.

Strict legislation of the Czech Republic and of the European Union obliges the bank to inform the Financial Analytical Office of the Czech Republic (FAÚ) about “suspicious incoming or outgoing payments” and not to provide clients with any information, which allows gathering of the relevant information quickly and without unnecessarily obstacles. Each year, the volume of the secured funds grows. According to the FAU annual report, the volume of the secured funds within the Czech bank accounts amounted to CZK 3.897 billion for the respective year 2020.

Sometimes, the length of the blockage of funds lasts only few days, but often, the funds are blocked for a relatively long time, which can subsequently complicate withdrawals or transfers from the respective accounts. The worst-case scenario, your business will be destroyed. The decision to seize the funds may also lead to the initiation of criminal proceedings in respect to the suspicion of criminal offense of money laundering and / or fraud (provisions of Sections 216 and 209 of Act No. 40/2009 Coll., The Criminal Code), based on a complaint filed by the law enforcement authorities.

If you encounter a blockage of funds, it is important not to panic and seek qualified legal assistance in time, because non – specialist have virtually no chance to solve this problem by themselves. The employees of the Zaripov & Partners Law Office have extensive experience in providing services for unblocking of funds. We know which authorities to contact, how to write and submit all the necessary documents. In connection with an illegal blocking, you also have a right to compensation from the state if such a blockage has caused damage to you or your company.

We have extensive experience with unblocking of the bank accounts!

The price of the service is based on a mutual agreement.