The court began to address the case of the exchange of the Edelmann Palace in Olomouc

Olomouc - The Olomouc court today began dealing with the case of the allegedly unfavorable exchange of the historic Edelmann Palace in Olomouc. The accused is expert witness Hana Martínková, who valued the city property for the city hall. The prosecutor has charged her with perjury and providing a false expert opinion, for which she faces up to ten years in prison. The city wanted to exchange the palace for land in the gap on Denisova Street. The entire transaction was intended to help the Museum of Art, which planned to build a Central European Forum in the gap. However, the exchange ultimately fell through, and the city was not harmed.
According to prosecutor Petr Matoušek, the accused prepared the expert opinion with the intention of favoring her acquaintance Miroslav Barneta. He wanted to use his land on Denisova Street, which the museum urgently needed for the construction of the forum, to cover part of the price of the Edelmann Palace. In the expert opinion, the expert allegedly grossly undervalued the price of the city palace while increasing the price of his land. "If the agreement were to take effect, it would mean a financial loss for the city of at least 24.4 million crowns," stated the prosecutor.
Martínková admitted that she has known Barneta for about 20 years and produces around forty expert opinions a year for his real estate agency. However, she denies the accusation of trying to favor him. "I had no reason to do so. I presented my expert opinion truthfully; my valuation was correct," the accused expert defended herself today. "If I had known what awaited me, I would never have gone into this," she added.
The whole dispute revolves around different interpretations of the methodology for valuing real estate. The police ordered two review appraisals during the investigation, which valued the palace significantly higher, while establishing a lower price for Barneta's land. Paradoxically, the difference in the assessed value of the historic Edelmann Palace in these appraisals amounted to 23 million crowns.
While the sale of such houses is typically planned for six months according to city hall officials, in this case, the city representative pressured for time. The city council discussed the exchange on February 24, 2009, and a month later, the councilors were to decide on it. The rush was due to the fact that the project for the Central European Forum was to be submitted by the end of March. The expert valued the price of the Edelmann Palace at 36 million crowns and estimated Barneta's land at 9.5 million crowns. At that time, the price for the palace seemed unsatisfactory to the city. The representatives of the city hall called other experts at the last minute, but they refused to prepare the appraisals due to the unrealistic deadline. Subsequently, the councilors approved the exchange of properties. The sale of the palace was agreed upon by 32 of the 41 present councilors, while eight were against. The proceedings of the councilors who voted for the exchange had already been investigated by the police based on a criminal report. However, the prosecution was postponed.
The contract for the transfer of the 16th-century palace was conditional on the release of a grant from the Ministry of Culture for the project of the Central European Forum. However, the grant was not obtained. Thus, the palace ultimately remained with the city; the contract expired at the end of June.