Head of construction office tried to legalize illegal deforestation near Klínovec — fined and dismissed

The Regional Court in Plzeň has ruled on the appeal in the case of Punčořová, the former head of the building authority in Jáchymov, who tried to retroactively legalize a massive forest road illegally built to connect the ski resorts of Klínovec and Neklid in the Ore Mountains (Krušné hory). Following the appeal, the woman has been ordered to pay a fine of 70,000 crowns and will lose her position.

"We had no doubt whatsoever about the defendant's guilt. We only altered the punishment previously imposed by the district court," said Simona Kubušková, chair of the appellate panel.

According to case files, six years ago Punčořová issued several rulings in violation of building regulations in an attempt to legalize a huge forest road that had been built without authorization to link the privately operated ski areas of Klínovec and Neklid.

Construction of the road was begun by the company Lesy Jáchymov in 2018. The company's then-CEO, Robert Maršner, ordered the clearing of a 2.5-kilometer-long strip of forest up to 27 meters wide between the two resorts without the required permits. In September of last year, the Regional Court in Plzeň fined him 100,000 crowns for causing environmental damage and creating an environmental hazard. The court also fined the company Lesy Jáchymov itself, as a legal entity, half a million crowns for the same violation.

In its verdict, the court stated that this was a deliberate circumvention of the law, since at the time there was no legal way to connect the two ski areas. "The defendants clearly calculated that if the forest were cleared without any legal permit, the matter would simply be settled with a fine, leaving the relevant authorities no choice but to issue a positive opinion to legalize what would become the widest forest road in the Czech Republic," the Plzeň Regional Court's ruling states.

The court also found that the building authority had no jurisdiction to issue rulings on this particular construction project in the first place. Punčořová subsequently attempted to legalize the construction through a series of unlawful decisions — for instance, issuing an occupancy permit despite the absence of a valid building permit. "Such a mistake would be hard to justify even for someone with only a superficial knowledge of building supervision procedures, let alone for a person holding the position of head of a building authority," noted Karlovy Vary judge Ivana Kopřnická.

The judge also emphasized that the Jáchymov building authority had no territorial jurisdiction whatsoever to issue any rulings concerning this project — according to the court, that authority rested with the town council of Ostrov nad Ohří. "Through her actions, the defendant exceeded her powers, as she acted in violation of building legislation. The numerous errors committed, their nature and their interconnection, were all aimed at a single goal — legalizing this construction," Kopřnická concluded.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz