The Regional Court in Hradec Králové today sentenced former head of the Hradec Králové Region’s investment department, Emil Kmoníček, and former governor’s adviser, Lubomír Červinský, to five years in prison for manipulating two billion tenders to rebuild the Náchod Regional Hospital. Both denied guilt. The Hradec Králové court dealt with the case for the second time, tightening the sentence to Červinský, whom he acquitted last time. The judgment is not final.
Each of the defendants also received a fine of CZK 100,000. In addition, Kmoníček is banned from operating for five years. Both the defendants and the public prosecutor set aside a deadline for an appeal.
“If it is a statement of guilt and punishment, it corresponds to the prosecutor’s proposal and the seriousness of the crime as such. The first decision of this court did not correspond to the original charge, so an appeal was filed,” said prosecutor Jiří Viesner today.
Kmoníček and Červinský were responsible in court for the criminal offenses of negotiating an advantage in awarding a public contract, in a public tender and public auction, and for attempting to abuse the authority of an official. The crimes were not completed. Defendants face up to 12 years in prison.
The machinations concern the then second and third tenders for the reconstruction of the Náchod Regional Hospital, which the region unsuccessfully organized between 2015 and 2016. None of the tenders, the first worth CZK 1.19 billion and the second CZK 1.3 billion, the region did not finish. According to the file, both defendants took steps to win the contract to the construction company Metrostav.
If Metrostav received the contracts, in the first case, the association it managed with VCES would receive an unjustified profit of CZK 27 million, according to the indictment. In the second tender, Metrostav would have an unjustified profit of 13 million crowns.
According to the file, Kmoníček was in e-mail contact with two Metrostav managers, to whom he provided the tender documentation before announcing the tender and allowed them to comment on it. According to the indictment, Červinský managed everything and designed the qualification requirements for the candidates so that Metrostav had an advantage in the competition.
“The management role belonged to Mr. Červinský. It follows from the cooperation of the defendants. For example, we relied on wiretaps,” said Senate President Miroslav Mjartan.
The Regional Court in Hradec Králové dealt with the case for the second time. In July 2020, the court sentenced Kmoníček to five years in prison and released Červinský. The case was returned for a new hearing by the High Court of Appeal in Prague, which annulled the decision of the Hradec Králové court last September. The High Court stated in the reasoning that the regional court did not provide convincing answers to all the questions, for example, it had to better assess what competencies the two defendants had and what the relations were between all the actors in the case.
Source: CTK
