The police have shelved the criminal complaint against the former directors of the Museum of Art

Olomouc/Praha - The police dismissed the criminal complaint against the former directors of the Museum of Art, Michal Soukup, and his predecessor, Pavel Zatloukal. Libor Hejtman, the regional police spokesperson in Olomouc, informed ČTK of this today. The police investigated the case at the behest of former Minister of Culture Antonín Staněk (ČSSD), who filed a criminal complaint in April against the then-director of the National Gallery in Prague (NGP), Jiří Fajt, at the same time. Staněk dismissed both Soukup and Fajt from their positions. According to the spokesperson for the Prague City Public Prosecutor's Office, Aleš Cimbala, the police are still examining the case of the former NGP director.

Staněk dismissed both Soukup and Fajt on the grounds that they had made mistakes in the management of their institutions. He stated that he doubted their ability to run the gallery and museum economically, pointing to the results of audits at both institutions. The criminal complaint against Soukup and Zatloukal concerned the circumstances surrounding the preparation for the construction of the Central European Forum in Olomouc (SEFO), which has been in preparation for over ten years. The government allocated 600 million crowns for the project. Staněk criticized Fajt for a authorship contract worth a million crowns and long-term rental agreements made by the gallery. ČTK could not reach Staněk for comment; he is not answering his phone.

Staněk faced criticism from parts of the expert community as well as from his party colleagues for his decision, leading to his resignation in May. President Miloš Zeman did not accept the resignation, so Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) proposed his dismissal. Zeman decided on the matter in July.

"The criminal complaint was dismissed at the end of October on the grounds that no crime had been committed," Hejtman said today regarding the case of Soukup and Zatloukal. The complaint primarily related to the purchase of land for SEFO; according to the minister, the land was overpriced. The investigation was also meant to explore how the museum could apply for a European grant for the SEFO project when it did not have three other parcels needed for construction at that time. "This could have constituted misleading information and thus fraudulent conduct," the then-spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture, Martha Häckl, told ČTK earlier. However, the police rejected this.

The police are still investigating the criminal complaint against Fajt. "No criminal proceedings have been initiated at this time," Cimbala stated.

Both former directors of the Olomouc museum welcomed the outcome of the investigation.