The Lidovci want to vote publicly on the purchase of the Brno palace Jalta

BRNO - The Brno Christian Democrats want the purchase of the Jalta Palace to be voted on again and publicly. Last December, the city council decided to purchase the building in a non-public vote. It should be voted on again to clarify the positions of individual parties, said Christian Democrat Deputy Mayor Jan Holík to ČTK today. The Christian Democrats want to propose the new vote on the purchase at the next council meeting.
The secret vote on Jalta was proposed by ODS councilor Pavel Blažek, as he did not want his decision to be investigated by the police. Mayor Richard Svoboda (ODS) described the method of decision-making by the council at that time as a great rarity.
KDU-ČSL claims that its councilors were against the purchase of the building. "There are speculations about how the Christian Democrats stood on the matter, a public vote should clarify it," explained Deputy Mayor Holík. According to him, the city does not need the building at all costs, especially when the sale conditions are insufficient, Holík believes.
The magistrate has been considering the purchase of Jalta for some time. The city wants to renovate the building and relocate its offices from other locations into it. The current owner, Miroslav Lekeš, is being offered several buildings in the center of Brno in exchange. From the outset, for example, councilors from the Green Party were against the transaction. They also called on the mayor at the beginning of January not to sign the contract with businessman Lekeš.
According to earlier information from the newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes, the city leadership concealed an expert opinion from the councilors, according to which the passage is built on poor foundations.
The police are investigating the exchange of Jalta based on a criminal complaint filed by the representative of the owners of the pharmacy U Červeného raka, Vojtěch Halámek. The house with the well-known pharmacy is one of the buildings that Lekeš is to receive from the city. According to MFD, the owners of the pharmacy wanted to outbid the businessman and buy the house, but the city did not agree to that.
Deals surrounding Brno's Jalta have also been debated in the Senate at the prompting of Brno senator Jiří Zlatuška.