The court in Brno will only equip part of the judicial complex, waiting for funds

Brno - The Brno Regional Court can currently only purchase about one-sixth of the necessary furniture for the new judicial complex for approximately ten million crowns. It lacks funds for the remaining equipment, which costs around 50 million crowns, and is waiting for the Ministry of Finance to send them. They also hope to select the furniture by the end of June, when officials and judges are expected to move into the new building. Jan Lippert from the regional court, who is responsible for the relocation, told ČTK this yesterday.
    The original tender for the furniture was criticized by the antimonopoly office, which also imposed a fine of 200,000 crowns on the court due to the nearly two-billion crown contract for the construction of the complex.
    The allocation of funds for the furniture has already been approved by the Ministry of Justice, he added. Due to the ministry's remarks, the court decided to reduce equipment costs by about one-sixth. Some less frequented areas of the facility, such as the archives' offices, will be furnished with existing furniture from the current offices, Lippert stated.
    In the first smaller contract, the court intends to equip 49 meeting rooms. The remaining 11 rooms and about 400 offices will remain empty for now, and they will wait for the funds. Only then can the contracting authority initiate the tender process, noted Lippert. He believes that everything will be completed within the deadlines set by the court for the relocation.
    Initially, the court wanted to proceed more simply - to announce a ten-million tender now and include an option in the contract with the winning bidder to furnish the rest of the complex valued at over 50 million. However, the Supreme Audit Office criticized a similar approach in the past regarding a construction contract, and one of the applicants for the current equipment tender also complained about it.
    Both buildings, where the courts and the public prosecutor's office for Brno-city and Brno-forests will be located, are nearly finished. The building was originally supposed to cost around 800 million crowns. The Ministry of Justice gradually increased the budget to up to 1.8 billion crowns. Additionally, due to construction work, the court has exceeded this amount by about 60 million crowns. Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil filed a disciplinary complaint last year against the head of the Brno Regional Court, Jaromír Pořízek, regarding the financing of the construction. He was unsuccessful with it.