Czech Motorists sponsor built without permit on official son’s land

Jiří Vlk, last year’s biggest donor to the governing Motorists party, built two structures without a permit in Lazy near Orlová in the Karviná district. The land they stand on is registered in the cadastre to his son Adam, a senior civil aviation official. This follows from a reply by the Orlová building office to a freedom-of-information request.

On social media Jiří Vlk presents himself as a supporter of the conservative right, but in business, journalists write, he behaves more like an anarchist. It has already been reported that he was convicted of armed extortion, has an unauthorised hangar in Prague and breaks aviation rules.

Buildings in the middle of the forest

As in Prague, unpermitted buildings have sprung up in Lazy, in the middle of a forest next to a closed coal mine. They are used by Vlk family companies that own and operate helicopters. The complex also includes a shooting range and a paved area that serves as a helicopter pad.

For one brick building the developer applied for a retroactive permit as part of demolition proceedings. The proceedings are not yet concluded, but last year the office banned use of the building.

Formally the problem concerns not Jiří Vlk, who until now was a member of the Orlová council, but his son: the plot is registered to him and he is listed as the developer. Adam Vlk heads the legal and methodological department of the Civil Aviation Authority, and recently, on the transport minister’s nomination, joined the supervisory board of the state-owned company Air Traffic Control.

Minister: if he broke the law, he doesn’t belong there

Minister Ivan Bednárik (SPD) allowed that the younger Vlk may not be able to stay on the supervisory board if unlawful conduct in the building case is proven. “If such an allegation is confirmed and it involves unlawful conduct that by law is an obstacle to holding the post, then I agree that such a person cannot be a member of the supervisory or statutory body of a company, whether state-owned or private,” the minister said.

The head of the Civil Aviation Authority, David Jagr, sees no problems that would prevent Adam Vlk from working as a department director. “Thank you for the tip; it was discussed with Adam Vlk and I will not be taking any measures,” he replied.

Adam Vlk, a lawyer by training, acknowledged that the plots formally belong to him, but said they are used by an unnamed tenant from his father’s business circle. “I am of course the owner, but I don’t farm these plots,” he said. He could not remember which of the family companies leases the land: “You caught me off guard.” He knows about the unpermitted buildings and is dealing with the building office. He said he cannot terminate the lease for now, while the proceedings are unfinished: the office may issue a retroactive permit, and then the plot would become more valuable. If demolition is ordered, in his view the tenant should bear the sanctions. “So try to sort it out with him,” the younger Vlk said.

A shooting range, a helipad and a green light for a sponsor

To reach the Vlks’ base, the reporter had to walk the last kilometre: a no-entry ban applies on the forest road. On the day of the visit the unpermitted buildings were closed. Behind them, at a private shooting range that also stands on Adam Vlk’s land and is run by the company Devap servis (the state official Vlk is its 50% co-owner and, since September, its procurist), an exercise was under way: a group of shooters was preparing for training under an instructor.

In the following days Jiří Vlk answered by text message and defended the buildings: he said they are a “reconstruction of a sports facility” that was “legally notified in time”. The building office’s reply, however, does not support this. He also argued that he is acting just like the city of Orlová, on whose land another shooting range operates that, he claimed, is also not legalised. The management of the SSK Orlová-Poruba shooting club firmly rejected this: “I guarantee that everything with us is absolutely in order,” said the club’s CEO Lukáš Mazal. The club’s modular building is entered in the cadastre and has a house number.

At the end of April, Karviná-region businessman Jiří Vlk was part of a delegation that, led by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček, visited Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. By then he had already been finally convicted of armed extortion. How a man who reportedly has no business in Central Asia ended up on a business mission is unclear: government spokeswoman Karla Mráčková did not name the organisation that nominated him.

Who paved the helipad

It is not only the buildings that were built without a permit but also the paved area in front of them, which serves as a helipad. It was from here, judging by aviation app data, that a helicopter took off at the end of July, picked up the Motorists’ honorary president Filip Turek in Čeladná and circled with him over the plants of the Moravian-Silesian Region.

The pad is not on Adam Vlk’s land but mostly on two plots owned by the state enterprise Forests of the Czech Republic. “This pad was paved illegally. It happened without the knowledge or consent of Forests of the Czech Republic. According to the Orlová building office, no permit was issued for reinforcing this pad,” said the enterprise’s spokeswoman Eva Jauklová. As early as 2024 the enterprise asked the office to help establish who carried out the work. Officials inspected the site and took photographs, but the pad has still not been removed: the office has yet to make a decision.

Meanwhile Forests leased the plot to the company Devap servis, which now pays for its use. Who paved the pad remains unknown. Asked whether he knows the answer, Jiří Vlk replied evasively and advised journalists to look instead at who else around there breaks the law and, for example, steals. “When someone sets up an illegal dump there, it doesn’t bother you, does it? But when someone cleans it up, that’s a problem?” the Motorists’ sponsor said indignantly.

The Vlk family companies: Heli4U, a company with a formal office in Prague, operates seven helicopters (six of them owned by the related firm KTS servis). Father Jiří Vlk is the managing director, and his son Adam was listed as owner until 2022. Last August the company supported the Motorists with 200,000 crowns, accompanying the payment with a message to the recipient: “3 lanes on the motorway and 160 km/h.”

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz