Transparency International documents further alleged shortcomings in NGP

Publisher
ČTK
20.05.2019 10:20
Czech Republic

Prague

Prague - The organization Transparency International Czech Republic (TI) sent its findings about possible legal violations in the case of contracts concluded at the National Gallery in Prague (NGP) to the Ministry of Culture. According to TI, the contracts demonstrate an effort to circumvent the law on the contract register or the awarding of public contracts, and in some cases, there may be a conflict of interest. TI therefore called for further inspections at the NGP. The letter from TI is dated May 13; Culture Minister Antonín Staněk (ČSSD) dismissed NGP director Jiří Fajt on April 18. TI director David Ondráčka told ČTK that his organization had noted suspicious findings even before Fajt's dismissal.


Ondráčka stated that TI has suspicions beyond those that Staněk cited as reasons for deciding to dismiss Fajt. "Possible misconduct also does not concern only (the dismissed director) Fajt; there are possible conflicts of interest involving other people," he said. The letter to the Ministry of Culture states that TI does not "support or, conversely, question the personnel actions taken; it only points out further possible discrepancies that should be examined for the purposes of effective review of NGP's management."

Fajt, along with the director of the Olomouc Museum of Art Michal Soukup, was dismissed by Staněk on April 18. In both cases, he justified his action with economic misconduct, particularly criticizing Fajt for a copyright contract worth more than one million crowns, which the then-director had drawn on for curatorial work on exhibitions and displays. Staněk filed two criminal complaints against Fajt. Fajt has consistently denied any misconduct and indicated legal action against Staněk, claiming that his dismissal was a political move. Staněk announced his resignation last week due to criticism of his dismissal.

According to Ondráčka, "there are several warning signs that may indicate violations of the law, particularly provisions of the budgetary rules law, concerning, for example, four commission contracts concluded with the companies Individual s.r.o. and Projektové řízení s.r.o." "It is evident that the contracts in question are being concluded for similar performances and always for amounts up to 50,000 crowns, which may indicate an attempt to circumvent not only the law on the contract register but also the fundamental principles of the public procurement law, primarily the principle of transparency,” Ondráčka stated.

He further noted that the suspicion is primarily supported by a significant conflict of interest that arises in such situations due to the fact that Vladimír Mallát, the director of the economic-operational section of NGP, is a partner in Individual s.r.o., and his brother Radek Mallát is the executive officer. In the case of Projektové řízení s.r.o., Radek Mallát is both a partner and an executive officer. Their statements are being sought by ČTK.

TI also points out that although NGP has its own legal department, it contracted legal services from the law firm Koutník & Partner, which has received more than 3.7 million crowns from NGP funds since November 2017 under the management of Jiří Fajt. For the year 2018, these disbursed amounts exceeded the limit for small-scale contracts, without being able to apply any exceptions. Moreover, no procurement procedure for this contract can be traced according to Transparency International.
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