Former deputy mayor of Pardubice Helena Dvořáčková (formerly ANO, now SPD), who is one of the defendants in the case of manipulation of public contracts, has been released from custody. Her legal representative Petr Papež told the Czech News Agency today. The former mayor of Pardubice, Martin Charvát (formerly ANO), and the chairman of the Regional Chamber of Commerce, Jozef Koprivňanský, remain in custody, which was imposed on them by the court on 23 November.
“The reasons for their detention have passed, and they have been released at the request of the prosecutor. My client insists she did everything lege artis and denies the charges in their entirety,” Papež said.
Police accuse Dvořáčková and Charvát of wanting to influence who would win the contract to build the parking garage. According to media reports, they tried to eliminate the winner of the tender, Porr, by having an expert report prepared to prove that the promised construction period was unrealistically short. However, the expert opinion did not confirm this and Porr started building the parking house.
The court sent the three defendants to custody to prevent them from influencing witnesses. According to Pavel Jelínek, the lawyer for Charvát and Koprivňanský, the police are proceeding slowly and in a sluggish manner, and their detention should have ended by now. “They were supposed to question four witnesses, so far they have questioned two in three Sundays. We will file an official complaint about this. I have no doubt that the detention will be shorter than three months, but I am not sure it will be until Christmas,” said Jelínek.
Police have charged 19 people and two companies after an extensive raid on the Pardubice city hall. Among them are Michal Drenko, the former head of the Pardubice Development Fund and a councillor of the city’s first district, Aleš Kopecký, deputy chairman of the board of directors of the Pardubice City Services, and Pavel Nevečeřal, chairman of the fund’s board of directors. The others are Jaroslav Hruška, former head of the Property and Investment Department of the municipality, his successor Petr Škoda, who no longer works in the office, and Petr Hušek, a clerk of the Property and Investment Department of the Pardubice Municipality. Among the accused are representatives of construction companies. Among the legal entities, SBF Pardubice and KTS Integra Pardubice have been charged.
Pardubice removed Drenek, Kopecký, Nevečeřal and Dvořáčková, who was on the supervisory board of the Pardubice Development Fund, from their positions. Charvát resigned from all his positions, he was a councillor, a deputy and held positions in Pardubice waterworks and the fund.
The board of the ANO movement expelled Charvát and Drenek because of the case at the Pardubice town hall. Dvořáčková was a member of ANO in the past, but later resigned and entered the current town council as a non-party member on the SPD candidate list.
Source: CTK
