Abandoned Smíchov gardens in Prague now worth 140 million crowns

Abandoned gardens in Prague’s Smíchov, with a view of Vyšehrad, are now worth more than 140 million crowns. In late May, Prague councillors approved the Metropolitan Plan and turned these plots into land for development. The owner is businessman Michal Čámek, who appeared as a witness in the “Dozimetr” case. He has not been charged.

A purchase the day before the decision

Among the villas of Smíchov lies a garden colony: the gardens are wasting away and overgrown with grass, only rubble remains of the cottage, and the fence is crumbling. Čámek bought five plots with a total area of seven thousand square metres on May 27, exactly one day before the plan was approved. They were sold by his own company, Kumpera Smíchov, for 46.8 million crowns according to the land registry contract.

In 2009, the plots were purchased for 37.9 million crowns by the company CDV služby and later passed to Kumpera Smíchov, which is also owned by Čámek. According to Prague City Hall spokesman Vít Hofman, it was this company that more than seven years ago submitted a proposal to change the status of the gardens to building plots.

According to the Prague Institute of Planning and Development, the gardens used to cost about 1,400 crowns per square metre, and the plots are now worth more than 21 thousand crowns per metre. They have gained more than a hundred million in value. As the institute’s spokeswoman Anna Klímová confirmed, building is now permitted on the plots: three-storey houses can be built on four of them and a six-storey building on the fifth.

Why the owner stayed silent

Čámek did not explain to the newsroom why he bought the plots from his own company, or why on the eve of the vote: the reporter did not find him at home next door, and he did not answer written questions for more than two weeks. A representative of one of his companies, Centra commercial director Regina Kerzhkova, said he is not working for health reasons.

In June 2022, Čámek stated that he wanted to build his own home on the plots and that it was “not a development project” from which he wanted to profit.

Links to the Dozimetr case

Čámek received contracts from the Prague transport company and, through acquaintances in the circle of Michal Redl, came to the attention of police in the major corruption case “Dozimetr.” In August 2022, during questioning, he said that for three years he had met fairly often with Zakaria Nemrah. Nemrah confirmed that he had discussed the Smíchov gardens with Čámek, adding that he still has an interest in them but that they have not seen each other since 2022. Nemrah pleaded guilty in the case and entered a plea agreement.

Investigators from the National Organised Crime Agency, judging by the documents, checked whether Čámek had passed bribes to Nemrah in connection with a cleaning contract for the transport company. However, Čámek has not been charged. Prosecutor Adam Borgula said that at the current stage of the criminal proceedings it is not possible to say whether anyone has been charged.

In the past, some Prague 5 councillors and the association Friends of Malvazinky objected to the change of the plan. Nevertheless, at the end of their term, Prague councillors approved the change.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz