Prague To myself: Prague should check land transfers because of Pitcher
Prague – Prague At Thursday’s meeting of Prague representatives, it will propose to the municipality’s control committee to check the disposal of land in the liquidation of state-owned enterprises between 1997 and 2013. Group leader Jan Čižinský told reporters today that the impetus is according to him, the Molepo company won the auction in an unusual manner during the ODS government. The company should transfer the land back to the city at an estimated price in 2012, he added. The chairwoman of the control committee Alexandra Udženija (ODS) is not scrutinizing and considers the city the best solution, she said. The Molepo company stated that Čižinský was not telling the truth, the auction was OK and the company is willing to negotiate with the city.
Areál u Džbánu acquired the company Molepo from the property of the liquidated state enterprise Pražská kanalizace a vodní streams in 2012 for approximately 53 million crowns. She was the only participant in the auction. According to Čižinský, the announcement of the auction did not correspond to the normal procedure given by the memorandum between the Ministry of Finance and the city from 2011, according to which the state was to transfer the land to the city free of charge or at an estimated price.
According to him, the exceptions were the plots near Džbán, for which the state announced an auction, in which Molepo applied as the only interest. Čižinský added that Udženija was the councilor for property at the time, and the current chairman of the Civic Democrats’ Club, Zdeněk Zajíček, was in charge of transfers at the Ministry of Finance. According to him, ODS member Vladimír Schmalz is also a co-owner of Molepo.
Molepo’s media representative Jakub Splavec said in response that the Ministry of Finance had already rejected the possibility of a free transfer to the city in 2005. “This negative opinion was repeated until 2012. Thus, the liquidator had no choice but to sell the land at public auction. Anyone can apply.” said. According to him, questioning the legitimacy of the auction “it returns elements of nationalization to our country as under the former communist regime.”
Molepo recently closed the swimming pool on the grounds that it is in a state of disrepair. The company wants to build on part of the land along the European apartment building, but this requires a change in the zoning plan, which the city councilors rejected and will be voted on by representatives on Thursday. They will also address a local petition against the construction. According to the company, it is not necessary to make investments in the swimming pool without the planned construction. According to Čižinský, the company would return the land to the city for the price it paid for it.
“We must try similarly to get those lands in Prague back, and we will also want the audit committee to investigate the processes we have described here to see if there has been any case in other liquidations of companies,” said Čižinský. He added that the ODS politicians who were in office at the time should work for it, even considering that Molepo co-owns their partner. Enforcing the return of land in court has no hope of success. “In this case, the lawsuit doesn’t make sense because there’s no chance.” he said.
Udženija stated that the examination of property operations in the liquidation of state-owned enterprises is not precluded. “I’m definitely open to investigating how this liquidator sale went.” she said. She added that the council’s control committee had already dealt with the petition submitted by local residents and requested additional documents. “I called on the petitioners and we also called on Mr Čižinský at the previous meeting of the council to submit the relevant documents, which he has not done to date.” she said that Chizhi’s statements are speculation.
She added that the city also entered into negotiations on a possible transfer of land to the city, which the owner does not oppose. “If the capital or city district of Prague 6 managed to negotiate a buyout with the new owners, that would be the best solution,” she said.
The navigator confirmed that the company is willing to act. “All the original, and especially artificial, concerns about the encroachment on the leisure area or the surrounding nature have been explained and clearly refuted as non-existent. We see room for further action.” he said. He added that the company calculates that a more significant shift will take place after Thursday’s council meeting.