The current director of the Prague City Hall, Martin Kubelka, accepted his dismissal from his post on Tuesday, which has now come into effect. Deputy director Tomáš Havel has been temporarily entrusted with the post until the city selects a new director. Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (ODS) said the reason for the dismissal of the current director was Kubelka's criticism of high remuneration for his former assistant or the problematic awarding of parking cards.
Kubelka's revocation was signed by Svoboda last Monday, but the director excused himself from the meeting for health reasons and only now accepted the document. The move was preceded by the approval of Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN), which is required by law for the dismissal of a chief municipal official.
Comparison of remuneration for Kubelka's assistant. They were 230 percent higher, Interior calculated in the 'blessing of the recall' Back in January, the mayor suspended Kubelka's employment for what he called "obstacles on the employer's side. The mayor put Havel, who is the deputy director for the cross-cutting activities section and has long served as head of the municipal legal department, in charge of the municipality.
"I want to start the selection process for the director of the municipality as soon as possible. Prague deserves a professional who will ensure the efficient and transparent functioning of the office and its further development," Svoboda said.
Rewards for the assistant
Kubelka's retention in office began to be discussed last year after the media published information about several scandals related to him. Server iROZHLAS.cz first stated that Kubelka had given his former assistant CZK 857 000 in bonuses the year before last and that the employee also lives in a municipal apartment in the centre. It has now emerged that the employee received 230 percent higher remuneration from Kubelka than her colleagues. This was calculated by the Ministry of the Interior, reported on Tuesday iROZHLAS.cz. The reporter described how free parking cards were distributed in Prague.
Server List News then came up with the information that the director had granted parking permits in the paid parking zones for, among other things, cars in his wife's name. This was followed by articles about the alleged harassment of the Director of the Transportation Department over a fine for Kubelka's wife. Daily N recently said that the allocation of parking permits by Kubelka was being investigated by police following a whistleblower's complaint to the Justice Ministry.
Prague City Hall was previously in a similar situation with Martina Děvěrová, who was dismissed from her position as director of the office by then-Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO) in 2018. The former director sued the city, and last year the two sides agreed on a settlement of roughly CZK 7.11 million.
iROZHLAS.cz/gnews.cz-jav
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