The Regional Court in Brno failed with the appeal against the two billion fine

"It should be emphasized that no one suffered any damage and that this is an accounting operation related to the state budget."

Brno - The Financial Directorate in Brno recently rejected the appeal of the Brno Regional Court against a two billion fine for the construction of a new judicial complex. The court must now return the money to the state. This was stated today by court spokesperson Miroslava Sedláčková. The fine was imposed by the Brno Tax Office due to various administrative errors associated with the construction.
     "The next step will probably be to request an extension of the due date for payment and its waiver. It should be emphasized that no one suffered any damage and that this is an accounting operation related to the state budget, that is, a situation where the state pays again to the state,” the spokesperson emphasized. The court's management strongly rejected the alleged errors.
     The amount of two billion crowns represents all costs associated with the construction of the new Brno judicial complex. It houses the Brno City Court and the Brno city public prosecutor's office, as well as the Brno-Country District Court and its public prosecutor's office.
     The Tax Office identified errors in the administration related to the construction of the complex. According to them, the regional court did not proceed correctly with the project and should therefore return the funds allocated by the state. However, the judicial complex stands and has been fully operational for some time.
     In 2005, it was anticipated that the construction of the complex would cost 805 million crowns, but after a precise calculation of the costs, the price increased to 1.674 billion crowns. This investment amount was also approved by the Ministry of Justice. Later, however, the total project costs soared to 1.938 billion crowns.
     One of the people managing the funding of the construction was the economist of the regional court, Jan Lippert. According to him, the errors included, for example, incorrect payment deadlines on invoices. These contradicted what the state required at the time. However, Lippert insists that the errors were not fundamental and were only formal.
     The chairman of the regional court, Jaromír Pořízek, previously pointed out that the increase in costs for this project was poorly commented on. According to him, although they rose from the original 800 million to almost two billion, many data from the project documentation were unknown when the initial amount was set, such as connections to transport infrastructure or networks. The original tender did not account for the fact that the District Public Prosecutor's Office in Brno-Country would move to the new complex.
     However, there could be difficulties in paying the fine. Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil previously said that if a decision were made regarding the fine at that amount, he would have to request the Minister of Finance to increase the budget of his department.