The case of the former mayor of Prague 1, Oldřich Lomecký, who is facing charges of abuse of authority and breach of duty in managing someone else’s property in connection with the sale of an apartment, will be heard by a new judge at the District Court for Prague 1. The current president of the criminal panel, Pavla Hájková, has been joining the Municipal Court in Prague since September. The court began hearing the case in May.
The public prosecutor claims that Lomecký illegally sold an apartment in the center of the capital and caused damage to the district of over three million crowns. Lomecký rejects the indictment, claims that he only complied with the conditions of the public competition.
The Criminal Code provides for the possibility of changing the composition of the court panel. It stipulates that if both the prosecutor and the accused agree, the new judge will read the “substantial content” of the trial report, including the evidence presented therein, and then may proceed with the trial. However, if one of the parties did not agree with this procedure, the entire main trial would have to be carried out again. That is also why Hájková did not continue with the main trial today after the expert’s questioning and postponed it indefinitely.
The case should be brought to the table by judge Jan Kratina. Hájková announced that it would probably be necessary to confront the authors of the expert opinions. At the previous trial, the expert testified, among other things, that it was impossible to determine the usual price for the given apartment, while the expert institute, whose representative the court heard today, set it roughly in the range of 10.3 to 12.1 million CZK.
The public proceedings for a seven-room apartment in Opletalová street were won by the daughter of the wife of billionaire Pavel Tykač, who offered almost 18 million crowns for it, according to the prosecutor Tomáš Jarolímek. However, the former mayor finally concluded a contract with another bidder in 2013, who finished fifth in the competition with an offer of 7.1 million. According to the indictment, he did it without the council’s knowledge, even though it was his duty to have it approved by the council. According to the public prosecutor, Lomecký thus caused damage of CZK 3.262 million.
The apartment eventually ended up in the ownership of the company Ivany Tykač, she bought it for around ten million crowns.
The former municipal politician told the court in May that he felt innocent. According to him, the legal office for the city district drew up the terms of the competition. According to him, the problem at that time was the eviction of the center, in the conditions, for example, it was stated that one person may not buy more than one apartment or that real estate may not be sold to companies. According to Lomecký, the district wanted to prevent rich people and real estate agencies from buying apartments as an investment and converting them into Airbnb.
The former mayor also said he was aware of the price difference between what the council approved the sale for and how much he had it transferred for himself. However, according to his testimony, the previous offers did not meet the conditions. He said he had consulted with lawyers about concluding the contract. According to his statement, he did not know the applicant and did not receive any money from the sale.
Source: CTK
