Brno company Jižní centrum is no longer allowed to keep contracts secret

Brno - The Municipal Joint Stock Company South Center Brno is not a private company, but a public one that is subject to the law on free access to information, the Regional Court in Brno ruled at the end of October. The company thus lost a lawsuit against the civic association Brnění, which is demanding information about the contract between the South Center and the Slovak company Europark, which is to build the Palace Trnitá next to the Vaňkovka shopping center. Matěj Hollan from Brnění informed CTK about this in a press release.
     The South Center was established in 1994 by the city of Brno and was created to coordinate the revitalization of the area south of the current main train station. The board consists of Brno politicians and councilors, with Naděžda Křemečková (CSSD) as the chairwoman and Libor Šťástka (ODS), the mayor of Brno-střed, as one of the vice-chairs. They claimed that the company is their private firm, and therefore does not have to disclose any information to the public. They also stated that contracts with Europark are subject to commercial confidentiality. However, the court sided with Brnění, and the South Center must provide information regarding the contract with Europark.
     An appeal against the decision can be filed within 14 days of delivery of the judgment to the Supreme Administrative Court. It was not possible for CTK to find out today whether the South Center will do so and what its reaction to the judgment is. Šťástka did not answer the phone in the afternoon and did not respond to SMS messages.
     Brnění is currently pursuing three lawsuits against the company. Two were filed last August and concern the contract with Europark. The third was filed only a week ago, as Brno coalition councilors refused to disclose contracts with the investor of the Aupark hypermarket. "It is almost certain that the South Center will lose these two lawsuits as well," believes Hollan.
     The South Center has decided to withhold information about contracts with Aupark even from opposition councilor Jaroslav Kacer (TOP 09), therefore further legal action is likely. "The motivation of the councilors may be to buy time to falsify contracts, cover up inconvenient facts, or they may simply be delaying the obligation to disclose information until the South Center ceases to exist," Hollan believes.