The court will begin addressing the contract for the reconstruction of the Kuks complex in January

Prague - The Prague Municipal Court will begin examining the legality of the contract for the reconstruction of the baroque complex at Kuks in the Trutnov region at the beginning of January. Although the criminal panel attempted for the second time to return the case for further investigation, the higher court ordered it to schedule the main hearing in the matter. This was confirmed to ČTK from the Infosoud database, and the spokesperson for the municipal court, Markéta Puci, confirmed the information today.

The state prosecutor complained against the second return of the indictment, this time successfully. "The Higher Court in Prague stated that the reasons for returning the case to the state prosecutor for further investigation, as delineated by the Criminal Procedure Code, are not given," the spokesperson said, adding that the main hearing will start on January 8.

The contract "Kuks - Pomegranate, Hospital - revitalization of restoration" cost more than 322 million crowns, of which over 314 million was financed by EU funds. The tender was won in 2013 by the Consortium Hochtief.CZ - Gema Art Group, with the indictment stating that this victory was ensured by a quartet of perpetrators who tailored the contract specifically for Gema.

The prosecution concerns a former employee of the National Heritage Institute, Dalibor Dubový, who was the vice-chairman of the evaluation committee for the tender, two employees of the winning Gema, Zdeněk Fučík and Kateřina Richterová, and an alleged intermediary, Petr Semeniuk.

Investigators claim that the chief engineer of the project, Dubový, provided internal information on the preparation of the tender specifications via emails to Semeniuk, who then forwarded it to Gema's statutory director, Fučík, and board member, Richterová.

The company allegedly gained advance access to the tender documentation, qualification documentation, and the proposed contract for work and influenced the documents in such a way that the tender was as favorable as possible for them. They then used the acquired information, to the detriment of other bidders for the contract, to create a competitive offer that won in the selection process.

The court panel returned the indictment for further investigation for the first time a year ago. Just as this time, they also demanded a more substantiated quantification of the profit that the perpetrators allegedly gained.

For arranging an advantage in awarding a public contract and for damaging the financial interests of the EU, Dubový, Fučík, and Richterová face up to ten years in prison. Semeniuk could receive a sentence of up to twelve years, as he is also facing charges of counterfeiting a promissory note.