H. Králové rejected a settlement with ADB in the stadium dispute and will continue to litigate

Hradec Králové - The councilors of Hradec Králové today rejected a judicial settlement with the company ABD Invest in the protracted dispute over the reconstruction of the winter stadium. They expressed their desire for the court to decide the dispute. In the dispute, ABD Invest is demanding 248 million crowns from the city. In April, ABD Invest proposed a settlement, asking the city to pay 40 million crowns plus two million to cover legal costs. The city council recommended that the city pay the company 12 million crowns as part of the settlement. Both settlement proposals were rejected by the councilors today.

The city believes that its position in the dispute with ABD Invest is stronger, partly because last year it purchased for 20 million crowns a claim worth over a hundred million from UniCredit Bank Czech Republic against ABD Invest. The city's legal representative, Martin Prosser, told the councilors that ABD Invest has no money and is 99 percent exempt from paying court fees. He pointed out that the entire dispute could last for several years and unsuccessfully recommended to the councilors to reach a settlement.

Hradec Králové signed a contract with ABD Invest in 2006, which was supposed to last until 2022. The project planned for the company, as the tenant, to transform the stadium into a modern arena without the city having to invest hundreds of millions of crowns at once. The city was to repay the reconstruction in annual installments of 25 million crowns and was also supposed to pay an additional 12 million annually for operations. In total, the company was to receive 610 million crowns. ABD Invest took out a loan from UniCredit Bank for the reconstruction.

In spring 2011, the city hall began to argue that the contract was unfavorable for the city. In 2012, the city announced that the public procurement law had been circumvented during the creation of the contract, and thus the contract was invalid. The city terminated the contract with the company. The courts deemed the contract invalid, and in December 2013, Hradec Králové took over the stadium from the company. The subsequent dispute between Hradec Králové and ABD Invest over payments made and services rendered during the reconstruction shifted to the courts.

In the case of the stadium’s lease and reconstruction, the former deputy mayor of Hradec Králové, Josef Malíř (VPM), faced criminal prosecution for attempting to breach the duty of managing someone else's property. According to the file, the city may have incurred a loss of 26 million crowns. Malíř has consistently denied the accusations since the beginning, and in 2015, the regional court of Hradec Králové definitively acquitted him of the charges.

The stadium hosts matches and serves as the base for the extraleague club Mountfield HK, which is jointly owned by the city of Hradec Králové and Mountfield, holding half of the shares. The dispute between the city and ABD Invest does not affect the operation of the club.