The court punished six people for railway contracts, and banned the ex-manager of Sudop Prague
The crimes concern a design contract for the repair of the line from Chlumec to Trutnov and a high-speed railway.
After a year of unraveling, the Municipal Court in Prague closed the largest corruption case on Czech railways to date. A total of six people left the court with suspended sentences, while Sudop Praha was acquitted. Judgments are not final, some appealed on the spot, including the public prosecutor.
The court proceedings concerned criminal offenses related to two contracts of the Railway Administration from 2015: Technical-operational study – Technical solutions of VRT and design contracts for the revitalization of the line Chlumec nad Cidlinou – Trutnov. Due to these contracts, a major police raid took place in 2016 at the Railway Administration and in some companies.
The verdict was confirmed to the daily Zdopravy.cz by the spokesperson of the Municipal Court, Markéta Puci. All convicts received suspended sentences: five for violations of competition rules.
Petr Lapáček, who was the Commercial Director and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sudop Prague in 2015, was sentenced to 18 months with a three-year delay, and may not serve in the statutory bodies of any company for three years. Sudop Prague employee Helena Mazancová received a six-month condition. Former head of the Railway Research Institute Antonín Blažek left with a sentence of 9 months, his former colleague Petr Kaván and Lukáš Hruboň from the design company Valbek left with the same sentence. The biggest sentence was given to Pavel Suk from the Railway Administration, who left the court with a suspended two-year sentence for “the crime of obtaining an advantage when awarding a public contract”.
In the end, the penalties are significantly milder than that suggested by the public prosecutor. He appealed on the spot. On the contrary, the company Sudop Praha was acquitted, which was also prosecuted. The indictment proposed punishment for several crimes, including damage to the EU’s financial interests at the stage of attempting or accepting a bribe. Defendants faced up to ten years in prison.
Penalty for studies on high-speed trains and track repairs
In the case of a study on high-speed trains, Lapáček was to meet with the then CEO Antonín Blažek and a member of the Board of Directors Petr Kaván due to an offer from VÚŽ. The defendant Mazancová was instructed by Lapáček to prepare a cover offer for VÚŽ. “At the Olšanka Hotel, they agreed on a formal participation in the tender procedure; the bid of the VÚŽ bidder was prepared by an employee of Sudop,“The public prosecutor said last year while reading the indictment.
Lapáček refused in court that he had been ordered to submit a cover offer. According to him, it was a prestigious contract, where they originally planned to cooperate with VÚŽ, but in the end they decided to go to the contract themselves. “We looked at the social benefits of high-speed lines, not earnings, “He said about the contract for about 20 million crowns. Lapáček stated in court that he had found out from the Railway Administration whether Cedop had also collected the tender documentation. He explained this by fears that Cedop’s objections would slow down the competition. In the end, Cedop did not submit a bid because it could not meet the conditions with a foreign operator of high-speed lines. “We have set the qualification criteria for this strategic contract in order to maintain the current monopolies on the Czech railways,“Says the then head of Cedop Petr Šlegr.
In the case of a contract for a project to revitalize the Chlumec nad Cidlinou – Trutnov line (price 34.4 million crowns). Sudop, in association with Metroprojekt, won the contract, although it offered a higher price. The Valbek and Prodex associations were cheaper, but they were excluded after they did not answer SŽDC’s additional questions.
The construction of the indictment was based on the fact that after submitting bids, Lapáček had to call Lukáš Hrubon from Valbek so that they would not answer the questions. This excluded them and Sudop won the contract. Valbek has previously stated that he did not have time to respond in time due to the large volume of work and not intentionally. Lapáček confirmed that he had called Hruboň and pushed him to withdraw his orders. “I wanted to put pressure on him to give up this contract because we want it, “ said Lapáček. According to him, the company’s management promised to win this design contract.
Pavel Suk, who left with the greatest punishment, was to inform Lapáček about who else picked up the tender documentation so that Sudop would know about possible competition. As a reward, he was to demand money from Lapáček for the football club TJ FK Bohdíkov. “Defendant Suk expressed dissatisfaction that Sudop had sent little money and told Lapáček to confirm how they were fighting for the Chlumec, ” it is stated in the indictment. Then, according to the indictment, Sudop sent another 50 thousand crowns to the original 50 thousand crowns.
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