Karlovy Vary Mineral Waters may not have to pay a fine for the monuments

Karlovy Vary/Plzeň - Karlovy Vary Mineral Waters (KMV) does not have to pay a fine of 1.8 million crowns, which the authorities of the Karlovy Vary magistrate previously imposed on the company for insufficient maintenance of monuments in Kyselka. This was decided by the Regional Court in Plzeň. According to KMV's media representative Michal Donath, the court upheld the company’s objections. Donath relayed this information to ČTK today.
    The CEO and Vice-Chairman of the Board of KMV, Alessandro Pasquale, stated that he appreciates that "the Plzeň regional court maintained its independence, and that justice and common sense ultimately prevailed."
    The reason for the cancellation of the fine and the return of the matter to the Regional Office of the Karlovy Vary Region will likely become clear once the reasoning of the judgment is available. “We will wait until the reasoning is delivered to us and will proceed accordingly,” said the spokesperson for the regional office, Andrea Bocková, to ČTK today.
    KMV received a fine of 1.8 million crowns for poor care of three monuments in Kyselka in February 2012 from the heritage care department of the Karlovy Vary magistrate. This fine was then confirmed by the regional office in the appeals process. The company KMV immediately disputed the decisions of the administrative authorities. According to its representatives, the administrative proceedings against KMV were conducted from the very beginning in a very biased manner, regardless of factual findings and convincing evidence, with a clear intent to damage KMV’s reputation and operations.
    “According to KMV, the decision-making of the state administration authorities was negatively influenced by inappropriate public and non-public pressure from members of the Association for the Protection and Development of Cultural Heritage of the Czech Republic (ASOKRD), which systematically and long-term damages KMV’s good name,” stated Donath.
    The area of the former spa has been deteriorating since the privatization in the early 1990s. Karlovy Vary Mineral Waters owns six historic buildings in Kyselka. The owner of most of the other buildings was the Revitalization Investment Company, which transferred them to the property of the charitable organization Lázně Kyselka last March. This way, it became the owner of almost all buildings and land that make up the former spa complex. ASORKD has long warned about the desperate condition of the monuments in the former Kyselka spa and criticizes KMV.