The court began to deal with the case of the sale of apartments in the center of Prague, the indictment faces 28 people
Update: 24/01/2023 15:16
Issued by: 01/24/2023, 1:15 p.m
Prague – The District Court for Prague 1 began to deal with the sale of city apartments in the center of Prague from 2012 to 2015, which were sold below the price, according to the indictment. 28 people remain under indictment, mostly representatives of Prague 1 at the time. One councilor and two female clerks are also being prosecuted. The public prosecutor read the indictment in the morning, and then the defense attorneys and some of the defendants submitted to it. They mostly denied the blame.
34 people were initially prosecuted in the case. The four entered into a plea agreement with public prosecutor Tomáš Jarolímek. The court has not yet approved them, it will decide on them in a separate proceeding. Two other people accepted fines imposed by the court through a criminal order. The court originally imposed monetary penalties on the other defendants, but they objected to the decision, and the court is therefore now discussing their case in the main trial.
The public prosecutor claims that Prague 1 sold 22 housing units below cost between 2012 and 2015. According to him, the defendants did not determine the usual price in any way, thereby causing damages of 32.5 million crowns to the city district. However, not all of the defendants were in office during all four selection procedures that the indictment mentions. According to the plaintiff, the defendants were guilty of obstructing the task of an official through negligence and breach of duty in the management of someone else’s property through negligence.
Defense attorneys and some of the defendants appeared for the indictment today, they all denied guilt. Some of them did not agree that they would not find out the usual price for apartments. They pointed out that the purpose of selling apartments was not only to maximize profit, but also to stop the population decline in the center of the metropolis. Among the defendants is, for example, former mayor Oldřich Lomecký (then TOP 09), who apologized for today’s meeting. His lawyer rejected the charge on behalf of his client.
The defendants themselves spoke about the fact that the goal of selling the apartments was not profit, but to stop the depopulation of Prague 1. Kateřina Dubská from the property management department of Prague 1 testified that she tried to fulfill her duties with maximum commitment. The woman rejected the prosecution’s claim that she did not adequately advertise the apartments for sale. She listed to the court where the offers were published, drawing attention, for example, to the fact that they were published on the official board of the municipal district for longer than the law stipulates. She also described how the selection process worked.
Like other defendants, she pointed out that the units being sold were in poor condition, in old houses, or even poorly set up. The woman also said that tendering is according to one of the most accurate ways to find out the real price of things on the market.
In his statement, another defendant, Richard Bureš (ODS), denied that Prague 1 would be damaged. He drew attention to the statement of the municipal district, which did join the proceedings, but only out of procedural caution. According to Bureš, it states, among other things, that Prague 1 does not agree with the construction of the accusations, was interested in selling the apartments and is satisfied with the completed sale. According to Bureš, the offer of apartments was completely transparent.
Other defendants also pleaded not guilty in court. They also drew attention to the expert opinion, which the defense commissioned and which, according to them, refutes the indictment. The main trial is currently scheduled for Wednesday.