Pre-election battle in Prague: TOGETHER and Praha Běj started fighting over sponsorship donations
At the end of August, the coalition SPOLU, led by candidate for mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (ODS), held a press conference on the disadvantageous sale of land in Lysolajy. The whole case started back in 2012, when the then mayor of Lysolaj, now accused in the Dozimetr case, Petr Hlubuček, asked the capital city to hand over land in Lysolaj to the district administration, stating that he planned to build a four-story home for seniors and chooses AG Development as a strategic partner, which also owns some surrounding land. The entrusted lands were eventually sold to the Dalavrien development company from the Landia group for one hundred million crowns. According to expert opinions, Prague received at least one hundred million crowns.
Sponsorship gifts
“Undoubtedly, the circumstances of the sale itself, when the Municipal Council of Lysolaje did not call for a tender and sold the land to Dalavrien, are also worth mentioning. Privatization experts call this coincidence the “magic of exclusivity” – that is, there is no competition, but the decision to sell must be justified. In this case, the reason was the fact that DALAVRIEN already owns the neighboring land. It must be added that he acquired this land shortly before the transaction from AG development, which has the same owner as bpd partners. At the same time, bpd partners, its subordinate companies and its managers as natural persons sponsor the STAN and Praha Sobě movements,” states TOGETHER in a press release.
However, the leader of Prague Sobě Jan Čižinský rejects any accusation of a conflict of interests. We repeat again: the plots ended up with the company Landia, which is the sponsor of TOP09. The fact that we are supported by the BPD group is widely known, the information is on a transparent account, so TOGETHER just discovered America. All donors transparently confirmed precisely so that no doubts could arise. TOGETHER, therefore, before the elections, they come up with absolutely senseless constructions and what is even more incomprehensible is that Jan Wolf, the leading candidate of TOGETHER, also voted for it. In short, it’s complete stupidity. Our sponsors support us precisely in order to sweep away corruption in the whole of Prague, just as we did in Prague 7, Čižinský told Blesk.
What about Jug?
In connection with the sale of land in Lysolágy, Čižínský also drew attention to the circumstances of the sale of land in the Džbán swimming pool area, which, according to him, are very similar. During the exchange with the state, she had the land according to the previously signed memorandum to get free Prague, but in the end they went to auction, where they were bought by Molepo for 54 million. One of Molepo’s shareholders is Vladimír Schmalz, an energy expert from the Prague ODS, formerly head of mergers and acquisitions at ČEZ, then head of the territorial development committee of the Prague council. The swimming pool area is now closed due to poor condition. But at the same time, the company is asking the Prague municipality to change the zoning plan and turn unbuildable plots into parcels.
“After this zoning change to building, the land would be worth billions. In this part of Prague, a meter of building land today costs easily 20-40,000 crowns. A hundredfold profit? Who among us has it? And on top of that, the profit from the apartments that would be built on the land,” states Čižinský. “The circumstances of the sale of land in Lysolaj are strikingly reminiscent of those around the Džbán swimming pool. Friends of the coalition TOGETHER buy plots of land and build lucrative villas and apartments on them,” concludes Čižinský
Candidate for mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (TOGETHER) together with councilor Hana Kordová Marvanová
Author: Veronika Foltová