Mynář wins lawsuit against Czech Justice Ministry: agency must pay him an extra 1.47 million crowns

The District Court in Olomouc has issued a payment order requiring the Czech Ministry of Justice to pay former head of President Miloš Zeman's office Vratislav Mynář 1,470,422 crowns. The ministry's press office confirmed the ruling.

Mynář had sought compensation for material and moral damages related to a criminal case involving subsidy fraud and harm to the EU's financial interests — charges of which the court ultimately cleared him.

Nearly 2 million in claims

Zeman's former close ally initially demanded 1.9 million crowns from the state. In March, the ministry had already paid him 472,000 crowns, meaning that with the latest court decision, he would receive the full amount originally requested. However, the ministry disagrees with the court's ruling. "The Ministry of Justice will file an objection to the court's decision," said ministry spokeswoman Marcela Nevšímalová. The case will continue to be heard by the same Olomouc court, but this time in an open court hearing. Mynář himself did not respond to requests for comment, and his lawyer, Lukáš Trojan, likewise declined to comment.

The essence of the fraud charge

Mynář was accused of concealing key information several years ago in his application for a European subsidy worth nearly 6 million crowns to build his guesthouse, Malovaný, in Osvětimany. His application failed to disclose that the same property had previously received a subsidy from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports — 13 million crowns — granted to the association Hřibák, where Mynář served as treasurer.

Hřibák only managed to bring the project to the rough-construction stage before the property was transferred to Mynář's company, Clever Management, on whose behalf he, as director, applied for a new EU subsidy of 5,994,109 crowns, received in June 2011. Mynář has denied any wrongdoing from the outset, insisting he concealed nothing — even though his firm had already returned the funds to the state.

Acquittal

In 2019, it emerged that the building had already received funding previously, which, according to the regional program operator (ROP Střední Morava), violated the rules on reissuing subsidies. Nevertheless, after years of investigation and litigation, Judge Pavel Dvorský ruled in Mynář's favor. Explaining the acquittal, he stated that Mynář had not concealed anything: although Clever Management's application indeed made no mention of its connection to the Hřibák project, the court found that this disclosure was not required, since Clever Management itself, the court determined, had no connection to the original construction of the athletes' dormitory.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz