Prague has changed the management of the Exhibition Center. Jaroš from the Serb case is being replaced by an expert in the exhibition industry
It took only two days for the new Prague coalition to change its board of directors after the new supervisory board of Výstaviště Praha was elected on Tuesday. Its chairman and representative of the ČSSD, Pavel Jaroš, had to leave. Tomáš Hübl became the new chairman of the board, and the former deputy mayor of Prague Václav Novotný (TOP 09) became the vice chairman. Only Ivan Pártl remained in the board of directors from the original members, who will move from the post of vice-chairman to the post of ordinary member.
“There was no reason to wait. The new board met and used the opportunity it has,” said the chairman of the supervisory board, Pavel Vyhnánek. He pointed out that one seat on the three-member board was vacant.
A month ago, the supervisory board, headed by former mayor Adriana Krnáčová, dismissed the vice-chairman of the board of directors, Jan Adámek, due to the fiasco of the PragueCon event – a planned meeting of friends of comics for more than forty million crowns.
The city had to cancel PragueCon at the last minute due to an absolute failure to manage the preparations. Among other things, it turned out that the contract for its preparation was backdated and invalid.
“We promised ourselves that we would start changing Prague for the better, and that means stirring up things that aren’t working. That’s why we in the three-member board of directors filled one long-term vacant position and another that the relevant manager had left. Now we have to turn the neglected area into a place where the people of Prague will be even visitors to Prague like to come, and there will be one event after another. Of course, the reconstruction of the Industrial Palace is part of that,” added the great Vyhnánek.
“We need to start putting the Exhibition Center back together. The area is completely neglected. Only random events were held, nothing was built. It had no concept or goal of what it should look like in fifteen years. No one was willing to solve it,” pointed out another member of the supervisory board Jiří Dohnal (Pirates).
The new chairman of the board of directors, Tomáš Hübl, is an exhibition industry expert who has been in the field for more than ten years. “He is absolutely apolitical,” said Vyhnánek.
Novotný also has experience with exhibitions. From 2011 to 2014, Výstaviště was legally part of its responsibility as a square for culture. Between 1990 and 2008, he managed the Prague Information Service, and in the last election period he led the TOP 09 opposition club in the Prague municipality.
The recalled Pavel Jaroš, who is the chairman of the ČSSD in Prague 13, sat on the board of directors since February this year. In the past, he figured in the affair of former Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Karel Srba, who was convicted of ordering the murder of journalist Sabina Slonková.
Jaroš worked with Srba and then replaced her in the ministry. He also stood trial together with the Serb on charges of corruption and manipulation of contracts for the reconstruction of embassies. The case was overseen by public prosecutor Dagmar Máchová, who in the end suggested acquittal due to lack of evidence in her closing speech, and the court agreed.
A completely new supervisory board was elected by the new city management this Tuesday. Pavel Vyhnánek (Praha sebo), who led it until this June, returned to its leadership. However, he resigned in protest against the fact that the city, headed by Adriana Krnáčová, refused to resolve suspicious contracts, such as for the organization of PragueCon or contracts for the repair of the festival, since they were given to people who had never done similar work in their lives.
We need to decontaminate it here, Matějská will look different. Krnáčová performed at the Exhibition | Video: Jakub Plíhal