The hotelier tried to bribe the politician to break the coalition in Prague because of the gardens
Prague hotelier Petr Bauer is to pay 18.75 million crowns for bribing Jiří Koubek and Radek Vondra (both TOP 09), who were members of the capital city council at the time. The District Court for Prague 1 has so far made a non-jurisdictional decision on the monetary penalty. Bauer was supposed to include bribes to politicians, saying that he would support the change of the Prague coalition. The reason was the hotelier’s dissatisfaction with the intention to limit the restaurant front gardens.
Bauer’s family company Bauer Hotel Group operates the hotels U Prince in Old Town Square, U Zlatého stromu in Karlova Street and Hotel Iron Gate in Michalská Street. According to the verdict, Bauer offered Koubek a million crowns. For the same purpose, he handed over an envelope with 200,000 crowns to Vondr, which the police recorded.
The chairman of the judicial panel, Lukáš Svrček, stated in his justification that corruption cases are usually difficult to prove, but in this case it was clearly proven. “The court has absolutely no doubt that the criminal activity took place,” he said. In addition to the fine, it also decided to forfeit 200,000 crowns, which Bauer handed over to Vondr.
Bauer’s lawyer, Richard Čičko, stated in his closing speech that in the case of the meeting with Koubek, it was an allegation against an allegation, and the prosecution did not prove an attempt at bribery. Regarding the meetings with Vondra, according to him, the first of them, even according to the statement of the politician, was only a general meeting without relevant conclusions. In the case of the second meeting, according to the lawyer, Bauer did indeed hand over the envelope to Vondra, but the money was intended as a gift to a political party, to be accidentally made, and thus he did not commit the intentional crime of bribery.
Court: Bribery without a doubt
The judges rejected the argument, saying that the whole situation had developed, the meetings were related to each other and cannot be considered separately. According to Svrček, it was clear from the testimony of witnesses, wiretapping and other evidence that it was bribery. “It is rare that this crime can be documented as evidence as it was in this case,” he added.
The lawyer also disputed the amount of the fine, which the public prosecutor’s office originally proposed at 25 million crowns. Čičko called it an exemplary punishment. The court originally set it a little lower, but still relatively high. Svrček stated that the amount was based on a standard calculation and on the defendant’s financial circumstances, which despite the lawyer’s argument cannot be described as standard, and thus the amount is not liquidation. According to him, it is also necessary to take into account the fact that it is the only punishment and is not supplemented by, for example, a condition. This is not an exemplary punishment, he said.
In Koubek’s earlier statement, the name of Jiří Fremro, former assistant to the chairman of TOP 09 in Prague, Jiří Pospíšil, was mentioned. According to Koubek, the hotelier said at the meeting that he had invited him precisely on Fremr’s recommendation. Bauer said last week that he turned to politics on the recommendation of an acquaintance, but he knows Fremro casually and consulted with him about giving money as a sponsorship.
“We came to support the disintegration of the ruling coalition”
Bauer’s son Petr, who also works in the family company, drew attention to himself in December 2019 when he attended a meeting of the Prague 1 council with dozens of mostly muscular men with short haircuts and dark clothes. They claimed that they had come to support the collapse of the coalition. Some representatives criticized their presence and considered it a form of coercion or intimidation.
At that time, the coalition in Prague 1 consisted of the group We, what here we live (STAN, KDU-ČSL), Prague 1 itself, Pirates and Greens for one. The councilors considered canceling the exception for restaurant forecourts, which would have to close at ten o’clock in the evening, due to the frequent disturbance of the night peace. The owners of the restaurant did not agree with this.
Three representatives of the group We, here we live, led by Petr Hejma (STAN), then suddenly terminated the coalition agreement and agreed on a coalition with ODS, TOP 09 and ANO. It was Hejma who became the mayor instead of Pavel Čižínský (Prague 1 itself). Bauer identified him as the only one willing to discuss with restaurateurs. Hejma said at the time that he had a similar opinion about front gardens as restaurateurs.