There is no money for the completion of regional courts, they are going to Brno

Plzeň - There is no money in the state budget for the completion of the regional court system so that it is present in all 14 regions. Almost all annual investments amounting to around 1.5 billion crowns, which the Ministry of Justice has at its disposal, are being allocated to the completion of the justice palace in Brno. Therefore, during the existence of this government, it is highly unlikely that the missing six regional courts, including in Karlovy Vary, will be built, ČTK found out.
    "For there to be six more regional courts, it is a matter of two to three billion crowns. We do not have that money because, unfortunately, we have to pay for the judicial complex in Brno, which was established and began to be built during the previous government," confirmed Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil.
    According to him, it will not be possible to find the money in this electoral period. "It is a priority to complete the buildings initiated by the previous government and invest money in infrastructure that will improve the results of the entire system. For example, in production zones emerging near prisons, which will increase the employment of prisoners," he added. He pointed out that the number of regional courts will not affect the speed and quality of judicial decision-making, but their completion would mean greater comfort for citizens.
    It is important that the regional court in the region functions, and not whether it will be in a new building, said Josef Pavel, the governor of Karlovy Vary Region, to ČTK. In Karlovy Vary, a new branch of the Plzeň regional court was established at the end of 2007. It provides basic services, such as extracts from the criminal register, commercial register, and there is also a court registry available. According to Pavel, it is essentially about becoming a fully-fledged regional court. And that is not directly related to the construction of a new building, Pavel noted.
    According to Pospíšil, the current philosophy of the ministry is not to build bombastic palaces and structures but to repair buildings that the state already owns, thereby saving costs. He noted that the doubling of the cost of constructing the Brno palace compared to initial estimates was caused by the fact that the Ministry of Justice under the previous leadership signed a contract for such an amount. "We tried to exit from the commitments, so we were actually forced to continue with the construction. It also seemed to us like a lesser evil than withdrawing from the contract and paying penalties and potentially other costs associated with it," he added.
    According to him, his team managed to reduce the construction cost by 100 million crowns. In total, however, the building, which is to house the court and also the city state prosecution, cost over two billion crowns. Initially, the ministry estimated the price at around 770 million. This summer, the Supreme Audit Office also described the construction of the palace and the preparation of this investment as overpriced.
    Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek told reporters today that he is not considering dismissing the minister in connection with the construction of the justice palace in Brno. "The justice palace in Brno is a glaring example of waste, but it is not Minister Pospíšil's fault that the situation is what it is," he stated. The Prime Minister thus denied speculation that emerged in the press today, which mentions a discussion about a change in the position of Justice Minister, specifically related to the problems concerning the financing of the Brno palace.