On Wednesday afternoon, the Czech Television Council elected a new supervisory commission – its advisory body, which the councilors removed two weeks ago without public justification. She chose from twelve people nominated by individual councilors. In the end, after several hours, four rounds of elections and a long internal meeting held off the record, which is broadcast from the council to the public, five new members were elected: Michal Petrman, Petr Juchelka, Jan Lamser, Zuzana Prokopcová and Eva Hubková.
At the beginning of the council meeting, the CEO of the Czech Television, Petr Dvořák, spoke, noting that the Czech Television could not check whether their election complied with the law. “I cannot guarantee for ČT that they are not in a business or other relationship with Czech Television,” he told the councilor, arguing that he did not find out the names of the nominees until the morning of the election. The election was accompanied by a great rush: councilors nominated nominations until Friday last week, on Monday she invited the nominees on Wednesday – where a private hearing of candidates for the supervisory commission took place in the ČT building in Kavčí hory from morning.
In a letter he forwarded to councilors, Dvořák also pointed out that some candidates for the supervisory board do not even have to meet the condition of independence. For example, he mentioned Radek Žádník, currently the director of the Alzheimer’s Home, and a former member of the top management of the Czech Television before the accession of Petr Dvořák. The applicant regularly and publicly expresses his criticism of the Czech Television and the CEO. He also worked for TV Barrandov, whose owner Jaromír Soukup is being tried by ČT – and Žádník’s statements are used here as arguments against ČT.
No one was elected, although only narrowly in the first round – the number of votes for him in the first round of the election stabilized at seven votes, eight were needed. In the next rounds, however, the number of votes for him decreased. He was nominated to the Czech Television Board by Councilor Roman Bradáč, also a former Czech Television manager, who nine years ago unsuccessfully applied to be elected CEO, but lost to Dvořák.
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The economist Eva Hubková was elected, about whom the General Director named in his note to the councilors. “She sued ČT for the invalidity of the termination of her employment relationship, the case ended with the Constitutional Court, which rejected her complaint,” the director wrote. Hubková was nominated to the commission by Councilor Vladimír Karmazín, who temporarily led the Czech Television before the election of Dvořák as General Director, then left the Czech Television.
The economist has worked at ČT or ČST since 1983, part of the time as a subordinate of Karmazín. Television terminated her employment with her after Dvořák took office. He currently works as the leader of the strategic investment team of the Czech Post. She unsuccessfully ran for the Czech Television Council this winter, where she was nominated by the Czech Association of Beekeepers.
Michal Petrman was then nominated to the commission by councilor Pavel Kysilka, whom his colleagues on the council consider to be an economic guru. Petrman is an economist and auditor, currently working as an independent consultant in the field of finance and management and lecturing at the University of Economics in Prague. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Endowment Fund for Independent Journalism, the Board of Trustees of the University of Economics, Prague, as well as a member of the Supervisory Board and Chairman of the Audit Committee at Moneta Money Bank.
Petr Juchelka was nominated to the commission by Pavel Matocha, vice-chairman of the Czech Television Board, chairman of the Prague Chess Society. Juchelka is also an active chess player, he is organized in ŠK Bohemia Pardubice. Juchelka is a tax advisor and chairman of the board of Pardubice Airport, where he was nominated by the ODS, of which he is a member.
Another elected commissioner, Jan Lamser, was nominated by Daniel Váňa, vice-chairman of the Czech Television Council. Lamser is also an active chess player organized by the Unichess team. He has been the head of ČSOB for nineteen years, he is a banker and economist, he has been working as an independent entrepreneur and consultant for the last 15 years.
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The last elected member of the Supervisory Board, Zuzana Prokopcová, was nominated by Councilor Martin Doktor. An economist and auditor with an engineering degree in accounting and financial management, she is a member of the audit committees of Moneta Money Bank, Kofola and Wüstenrot hypoteční banka.
The Supervisory Board, which was dismissed by councilors two weeks ago, warned the CT Board that they considered their appeal to be illegal, and also sent a pre-litigation summons. If a new commission is elected, they intend to go to court. It may therefore happen that if they succeed, the CT Board will have two supervisory commissions, one of which would owe CT a leaked remuneration. The councilor also pointed this out in his letter to director Dvořák. “I consider it necessary to warn the Czech Television Council that the costs associated with a possible lost dispute would be borne by Czech Television.”
Some councilors did not participate in the election of the new supervisory board. They have been excluded from the “election” point precisely because of the ambiguity surrounding the election, as there are legal analyzes which declare the original commission’s appeal illegal. Such a resolution has already been adopted by the Senate on the basis of analyzes, and the Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD) has assessed it in the same way. Former Chairman of the Czech Television Council René Kühn, former Vice-Chairman of the Czech Television Council Jaroslav Dědič and Councilor Zdeněk Šarapatka refused to take part in the election.
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