At a press conference, Hnilička justified his departure from workload in recent months and said that this was not an impulsive decision. “I have been thinking about him for a long time, basically since the end of January, when some events took place, which were very intensely discussed in the media,” he said.
The outgoing head of the NSA also said that he would like to continue to engage in sports. “I never wanted to be a politician, I’ve always been a sports car,” he said, adding that he had offers from the hockey environment. “I would like to continue at the hockey association, we’ll see,” he added.
The Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) thanked Hniliček for his work. “In two years, thanks to his tenacity, he won and actually built such a smaller ministry of sports,” he stated.
Hnilička faced calls for resignation in the winter after it became clear that he had participated in a celebration at a hotel in Teplice, which violated the then anti-epidemic measures. He was supported in his tenure by the heads of football, hockey, athletics, floorball and judo associations. Due to the celebration, Hnilička eventually resigned only from his parliamentary mandate and retained the position of head of the sports agency. At the end of January, he removed both of his vice-presidents.
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We have objections to all the auditors’ findings, Hnilička said
The National Sports Agency faced it control of its operation. Uncertainty was caused by the information that the agency uses an external company to evaluate which sports club will receive a subsidy. At the same time, the agency was set up precisely to deal directly with individual applications. “I firmly believe that there are no inconsistencies, but if something of such a larger format proves to be true, I will resign.” declared Hnilička in February.
He stated at a briefing on Monday that the sports agency had objected to all the audit findings. “I can’t talk about it at the moment because the process is not closed and therefore not public,” said the outgoing head of the NSA. He emphasized that all cooperation with the external company had gone through the government and that his resignation had nothing to do with the auditors’ findings.
“No money was lost, we acted economically,” says Hnilička, who believes that the agency will settle all comments.
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Former hockey goalkeeper Hnilička has been the government’s agent for sports since 2018. He took over the management of the newly established National Sports Agency, which took over the sports agenda, including the distribution of subsidies, from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in August 2019.
For this year, the budget for sports is earmarked for more than ten billion crowns. The agency covers not only professional, but especially amateur athletes with an emphasis on the activities of children and youth. “In record time, the National Sports Agency was able to receive money for the smallest clubs, within transparent and clearly legible criteria. That was also exactly the reason why we decided to establish an agency and the new successor must continue in the set trend, “adds Babiš.
If he hadn’t left, he would have left, says the political scientist
Political scientist Lukáš Valeš from the Faculty of Law of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen considers Hniliček’s justification for leaving to be funny. If everything worked as well as the former NSA chief now claims, he would have no reason to leave. However, problems have accumulated around Hnilička and the agency in recent months, Valeš pointed out at ČT. “If Mr. Hnilička had not left, he would have left and possibly with some criminal prosecution, but that is, of course, speculation,” he added.
“I do not think that it has made such a significant contribution to streamlining the financing of Czech sport as we would like,” said the political scientist at the address of the sports agency. He points out that the audit revealed a huge degree of inefficiency and suspicion.
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