The former leadership of Prague questions the invalidity of the contracts for the construction of Blanka

Prague - The former leadership of the capital city challenges the assertion that the contracts for the construction of the Prague tunnel Blanka are invalid. In the same manner, according to former Deputy Mayor Petr Hulinský (CSSD), many other contracts in Prague would also be invalid. Hulinský stated this to ČTK today. The leadership of the ODS council of representatives also responded and is demanding an extraordinary meeting of the council due to the looming damage. Metrostav announced on Wednesday that it would halt work on the tunnel construction. Prague reportedly owes them money and lacks contractual addenda for so-called additional work. Prague reacted with a statement saying that the contracts are probably not valid.
Mayor Tomáš Hudeček (TOP 09) said on Wednesday that the council or the city council had not discussed the construction. However, two resolutions from the council from September 2006 and spring 2007 can be found on the city’s website, which indicate that the city leadership dealt with the assignment of the contract. According to some politicians, the validity of the contract is questionable because some addenda were signed by then very powerful municipal officials like investment chief Jiří Toman instead of politicians.
According to several politicians contacted, who led Prague at the time, the council did not have to deal with the contract under the then-applicable laws; a consent from the council was sufficient. This was reportedly agreed upon by several teams of internal and external lawyers.
Hulinský told ČTK that he does not yet know what is written in the control protocol from which the city leadership is deriving. "However, I cannot imagine that all the contracts signed by city officials from 1992 to 2013 would be invalid," he noted. Due to the problem, representatives of the Social Democracy are set to meet with TOP 09 at the beginning of next week. Both parties have a cooperation agreement in the capital.
Former Mayor Pavel Bém (ODS) also reacted similarly. "If Hudeček's absurd construction about the validity/invalidity of contracts were to be valid, then no lease agreements, sublease agreements for sales or purchases of assets, etc., would be valid at all in the Czech Republic. It is merely a hysterical outcry in an attempt to save one's own skin," Bém wrote to ČTK. According to him, the current council members are now "caught in the trap of their inaction" and are afraid that they will bear criminal responsibility for it.
Bém also sharply criticized the current leadership of Prague. According to him, behind Hudeček are only debts that generate sanction fees amounting to tens of millions of crowns. "And Prague will have to pay them. Properly, they should be paid by Mr. Hudeček 'and his boys' from their own pockets. I dare say that another criminal charge will arise from this," stated Bém. Hudeček, according to him, embodies political stupidity and managerial irresponsibility.
The leadership of the ODS council of representatives has also positioned itself against the current leadership of the city. "ODS declares that the construction of the Blanka tunnel complex was duly approved by the then city leadership and was repeatedly discussed during the coalition of TOP 09 and ODS in the city council," wrote the club chairman and then Deputy Mayor Rudolf Blažek (ODS) in a statement. "Representatives of the city leadership from TOP 09 led by Mayor Hudeček are trying in this manner to evade responsibility for the mismanagement of this construction and indecision about the changes necessary to complete the construction," he added, stating that Prague is facing hundreds of millions in damages because of this. Therefore, ODS demands the convening of an extraordinary meeting of the capital's council.
Former Deputy Mayor Jan Bürgermeister (then ODS) is also convinced of the correctness and legality of the then-procedure. "The council would have to go mad if that were not the case, because the opposition would not let it pass," he noted. He added that the same approach was taken when concluding other contracts, such as for the construction of flood protection barriers. He sees the possibility of error only in formal matters.
Former transport council member Radovan Šteiner, who presented the council with both resolutions for the contract in 2006 and 2007, did not want to comment on the issue.