Former mayor of Prague 11 to face trial over land sold at knockdown prices, tens of millions of crowns in damages

The National Organized Crime Agency (NCOZ) has wrapped up its investigation into the sale of municipal land in Prague's Prague 11 district — a case that has dragged on, with interruptions, since 2014. Police intend to send former district mayor Dalibor Mlejnský (ODS) and 37 other people — councillors and district board members spanning two election terms during which municipal property was sold off — to court.

Investigators calculated total damages of nearly 73 million crowns. One plot of land, for instance, was sold for more than 15 million crowns below its actual appraised value. "A motion to file charges has already been submitted to the Prague Municipal Prosecutor's Office," confirmed NCOZ spokeswoman Barbora Kudláčková.

Officially, the district's plan was to sell off surplus municipal property and use the proceeds to build a swimming pool for residents. But police believe the district leadership under Mayor Mlejnský sold off several particularly valuable plots for far less than their market value.

The scheme allegedly worked like this: valuations for plots attractive to developers were carried out not at market rates but at administrative, tabulated prices — in violation of rules set by Prague City Hall. Tabulated prices were, unsurprisingly, much lower than market ones, which suited the politicians in power at the time just fine.

For example, the district sold a plot on Litochlebské Square to a buyer for 38 million crowns, even though a competing appraisal put its commercial value at up to 62.5 million.

In another case, one bidder offered 9 million crowns for a plot of land and buildings, but the district chose a firm that offered just 4.4 million — supposedly in exchange for a promise to house a kindergarten or a senior citizens' club in the renovated building. Yet that condition never made it into the purchase agreement or the building permits. According to an independent appraisal commissioned by police from the University of Economics, the real value of the properties was 18.5 million crowns — nearly 14.5 million more than the buyer actually paid.

Investigators also documented an episode in which Mayor Mlejnský met a senior Prague City Hall official for breakfast shortly after the city had officially warned the district against selling land below market value. According to police, the two sides agreed that the sales would go ahead regardless, after which Mlejnský would formally assure City Hall that everything had been done lawfully.

Investigators say the accused councillors and district board members repeatedly received warnings that the deals were unfavorable, the valuations flawed, and the tender processes dubious in their transparency — including from opposition members, who presented their own calculations. One opposition councillor gave a public presentation showing that a fair price for one plot should have been 4,500 crowns per square meter rather than 2,300. The ruling coalition nevertheless voted unanimously in favor, and critics were publicly dismissed as "deranged litigants."

"They didn't want to give us the appraisals. We had to obtain them through freedom-of-information requests. We warned them that the prices were, so to speak, rigged. But there was no reaction at all," recalls Ladislav Kos, a former opposition councillor from the "For Prague 11" movement who later became a senator.

Police first launched proceedings against Mlejnský and the others back in 2014, but the supervising prosecutor later dropped all charges, arguing that no one had personally profited and that deliberate manipulation could not be proven. The case was revived in June 2021, two days before then-Prosecutor General Pavel Zeman left office, when he ordered the investigation to continue.

Dalibor Mlejnský led Prague 11, home to 80,000 residents, for two consecutive terms. In spring 2014 he suspended his ODS membership, citing personal reasons — by then police were already looking into the district's large-scale sell-off of municipal property. Later that year, a search of his home turned up 29 million crowns in cash, which was later returned to him for lack of evidence it came from criminal activity. It also later emerged that Mlejnský had plagiarized his university thesis. In 2021, a court finally dropped charges against him related to 62 million crowns in damages tied to playground renovation contracts.

These days, the former politician is often spotted in the company of businessmen Roman Janoušek and Tomáš Pitr — in May of this year he was seen with Janoušek aboard the latter's yacht in the Croatian town of Šukošan. Mlejnský did not respond to our request for comment.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz