The councilors of the Plzeň Region have dismissed the head of the cultural center where the police intervened

Plzeň - Today, the councilors of Plzeň Region dismissed Miroslav Mach from the position of executive director of the regional company Cultural Center of Plzeň Region (KCPK), where the National Center Against Organized Crime (NCOZ) intervened on September 9th this year. The councilors elected Plzeň lawyer Daniel Janda as the new executive director. Libor Picka (STAN), a regional councilor and also the chairman of KCPK's supervisory board, told CTK.

The region approached lawyer Janda. "He is an external freelance lawyer who collaborates with the Plzeň law firm Volopich, Tomšíček & Co.," Picka said. The council did not need to announce a tender.

A consulting company KPMG is currently working on an audit of KCPK's finances, activities, and internal processes. "We met with them and provided the materials they requested," said Picka. According to him, the audit should be completed within 90 days, that is, by the end of January.

The dismissed executive of KCPK Mach is a former councilor of Domažlice. The city's councilors revoked him from the council on September 24th due to accusations following the NCOZ intervention over suspicions of fraud related to public procurement and subsidy fraud. Mach, who ran for the Association for the City of Domažlice, is a member of the STAN movement but has suspended his membership due to the case.

After the intervention in Plzeň, Domažlice, and Prague on September 9th, police charged nine people and two companies with suspicions of fraud in public procurement and subsidy fraud, all of whom are being prosecuted at liberty. According to NCOZ, the total damage is about 22 million crowns. The investigation is being conducted by the police at the request of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). According to EPPO, the intervention was related to the reconstruction of the spa into a multicultural center and a regional gallery, which is expected to cost over two billion crowns, and the modernization of a school kitchen in Domažlice. The reconstruction of the spa, which the region purchased in 2022, is being pushed by the current coalition of ANO, STAN, and For Our Region. However, the previous leadership of the region (ANO, STAN, and Pirates) initiated it. "Plzeň Region has acknowledged the damage, which was quantified by the European prosecutor at 145,000 crowns," Picka stated.

The opposition ODS and TOP 09, which advocated for the construction of a new gallery in the city center, oppose the reconstruction of the spa. They, along with dozens of architects, also criticize that the region did not announce an architectural competition and directly assigned the project through KCPK.

On September 15th, the region's leadership promised the opposition that it would present a comprehensive report on KCPK's activities, the competitions for work related to the spa reconstruction, and dismiss the executive at the December council meeting. At the same time, it stated that it would not wait for the investigation results and would commission the most comprehensive audit of KCPK.

KCPK, which currently has five employees, completed the project for the building permit, and according to Picka, it is on the verge of submitting the application for the building permit. The competition for the contractor for the spa reconstruction should be announced next year. The project for the reconstruction of the spa is still being worked on, and we still expect the originally announced deadlines, Picka added today. Other operational and personnel matters will be resolved by the new executive, according to him.