The committee wants to investigate the tender for the lease of Šlechtovka

Prague - The control committee of the Prague City Hall will call on Prague councilors to investigate the tender for the lease of Šlechtova restaurant in Prague 7 in their role as the general meeting of the municipal company Obecní dům. The reason is that Matěj Turek, one of the shareholders of the winning bidder Vinohradský pivovar, ran as a candidate for the coalition Prague Sobě (PS) last year. The committee members agreed to the proposal with a majority of five votes, one abstained. PS governs Prague together with the Pirates and United Forces for Prague (TOP 09 and STAN).

The tender for the operator was conducted by the municipal company Obecní dům, which is responsible for the restaurant. "Given that it is a joint-stock company, I propose a resolution where the control committee requests the councilors to ask Obecní dům to investigate the tender," said the committee chair Jaroslava Janderová (ODS). Subsequently, the councilors should provide the control committee with the results of the investigation.

According to Janderová, the information regarding the tender is serious. Moreover, there are allegedly more individuals from PS who are involved in the brewery. "I believe it would be appropriate for us to either dispel the doubts or alternatively, for the tender to be reissued. From my perspective, it would only be cleansing for it to be investigated," Janderová said.

The allegations of misconduct in the tender were denied by councilor and committee member Martin Benda (Prague Sobě). He stated that Prague Sobě is a civic candidate, so the candidates are not members of a party or movement. "Obecní dům and the selection committee did not know that there was a shareholder from Vinohradský pivovar," he said.

The committee then resolved to authorize Janderová to present the control committee's request at the council's Monday meeting, where she attends as the committee chair. There, the councilors will call for a general meeting to be convened and for the contract to be reviewed.

The tender winner was selected by the Prague leadership this August. The chairman of the board of Obecní dům, Vlastimil Ježek, stated at the time that ten companies were approached for the selection of the operator, and six responded to the offer. Vinohradský pivovar will likely pay rent based on turnover, with a minimum amount set that must be paid even in the event of zero turnover.

The building of Šlechtova restaurant was created in the 17th century as a Baroque summer residence. The restaurant has been in operation since the 19th century, most recently by Antonín Šlecht, under whom it operated until World War II. It was subsequently nationalized.

The building is now a national cultural monument, owned by the capital city. The rescue of the building, which had long been dilapidated, began two years ago. According to its estimates, the city will pay 120 million crowns for the reconstruction.