The dismissed Fajt received an offer to become the financial director of the gallery

Prague - The dismissed director of the National Gallery in Prague (NGP) Jiří Fajt has received an offer from the gallery's leadership to take on the position of financial director of the institution or curator of the collection of modern and contemporary art. Czech Television reported this today. The chairman of the CSSD and deputy prime minister Jan Hamáček described the offer for Fajt, who was dismissed by Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk (CSSD) due to alleged financial misconduct, as a managerial failure. After an explanation from Staněk, Hamáček told reporters that the interim director of the gallery, Ivan Morávek, acted in accordance with the labor code. Morávek expressed the same sentiment. In response to ČTK, he stated that he could not have acted otherwise. Fajt wrote to ČTK that he could not accept the offer and described it as an absurd theater.

According to Morávek, it was a formal legal procedure. He refers to the labor code, which states that the termination of a managerial employee does not end the employment relationship and the employer is obliged to offer him "other work appropriate to his health condition and qualifications." "It may seem paradoxical at first glance, but such are Czech laws, and I must respect them. Mr. Fajt, after all, did not accept the offer, and at this moment, this topic is already entirely irrelevant," Morávek wrote to ČTK.

Fajt told ČTK that he considers the offer for the financial director position "another act of absurd theater," which around him "has been orchestrated by the Social Democratic and presidential politics." "With full responsibility as a diligent manager and with the awareness of the internal needs of the National Gallery, I certainly cannot accept this offer, as I neither have the appropriate qualifications nor the required experience for this position," he noted. Therefore, according to him, the management was not legally obliged to offer him this position. He added that he has not formally responded to the offer yet. "It is just another of many pieces of evidence of the complete incompetence of the Minister of Culture and his people," he remarked.

Staněk dismissed Fajt in mid-April following an inspection at the NGP, justifying the dismissal with serious irregularities in management. The minister filed a criminal complaint against Fajt regarding an author contract worth 1.2 million crowns and long-term lease agreements concluded by the NGP. Staněk also dismissed the director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Olomouc (MUO), Michal Soukup.

Hamáček said today in CT that he was surprised that "someone would offer a position of financial director to a person who has such problems." He called it a managerial mistake. He added that he did not know why Morávek sent the offer or whether he had to offer all vacant positions to Fajt. He said he would seek an explanation from the Minister of Culture. Later, he told reporters that he spoke with Staněk. "He sent me an explanation that the director acted according to the labor code," Hamáček said.

Not only representatives of the cultural community opposed Fajt's dismissal, but they also call for Staněk's resignation over it. The narrower leadership of the Social Democracy party instructed Staněk on Thursday to prepare selection procedures for the heads of both institutions by the end of May. Staněk was also tasked with calming the situation in the culture sector.

Hamáček defended the Minister of Culture today in CT, stating that he acted correctly regarding the dismissal. He refused to say whether he would welcome Staněk's resignation. He pointed out that his main task is to prepare a selection procedure for the head of the NGP according to the CSSD leadership's request. If he fails to accomplish this task, Hamáček will address it.