Prague mayoral candidate Portlík didn't disclose all his property in questionnaire: three flats registered to his company

Prague mayoral candidate Jan Portlík, responding to a media questionnaire in which candidates for Prague mayor were asked about real estate, stated that he owns half of a family house and half of a flat in the Vysočany district. However, at Thursday's session of the Prague City Assembly, it emerged that three additional flats belong to his company — and he failed to mention them in his answer.

According to the news outlet Deník N, these are flats in Prague worth a combined total of more than 20 million crowns. Portlík bought one of them as a private individual in 2021, while his company purchased the other two in 2023.

Portlík denies any wrongdoing

The politician firmly rejects accusations of concealing information. "There wasn't a single question in the entire questionnaire about owning shares in companies — otherwise I would certainly have listed them. The idea that I was trying to hide something this way is absurd," he said.

He noted that his full ownership of the company is honestly reflected in the asset declaration that politicians are required to file annually. "The company's assets can easily be verified publicly. It's hardly likely I could hide something that is open and easily verifiable information," Portlík explained. However, according to Deník N, his company had for years failed to fulfil its obligation to publish financial statements, only doing so recently.

Criticism from the Pirates' chairman

At the assembly session, Portlík was criticised, among others, by the chairman of the Pirate Party, Zdeněk Hřib: "He really did try to hide these flats from the public. Why aren't you playing it straight? What motivates you to conceal such things? Perhaps you'd like to say you acquired these flats illegally?"

Hřib also reproached the mayor of Prague 9 for failing to disclose this information in the code of ethics that Prague council members are required to submit each year. Portlík responded that he was relying specifically on the asset declaration, whose requirements are stricter.

Portlík is not the first Prague politician who has had to explain his property dealings. In June, Ondřej Prokop, then the leading candidate on the ANO movement's list for the city hall elections, ended his political career after it emerged he had concealed flats in his declaration, with other questions also arising around his assets.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz