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Prague - The state has won a battle in a war with speculators over state land. Constitutional Court judges have confirmed that the state should get back properties in the Cheb area, bought by speculator Karel Wimětal.
In recent years, many speculators have acquired state property from the Land Fund very cheaply at a time when in many cases original owners are waiting in vain to get back lost land.
Wimětal is one of the biggest land speculators in the Czech Republic. He acquired state property in western Bohemia, in the Jizera Mountains and in an area near Liberec, where the world Nordic skiing championships will be held next year.
No rights violated
The Constitutional Court rejected Wimětal's complaint only a week after rejecting another big land speculator, Miloš Červenka.
Wimětal and the Land Fund have been fighting over the Cheb area properties since 2005. At first, the Fund transferred the properties to Wimětal, but when it became known how it sold properties to speculators, the Fund wanted the land back.
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Land speculation
The district and regional courts in Plzeň ruled that the properties belong to the Land Fund. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling. But Wimětal didn't give up and sent a complaint to the Constitutional Court, saying his rights had been violated.
The court rejected his complaint, saying it was unjustified.
Wimětal's most famous deal is linked to the world Nordic skiing championships near Liberec. In 2004, he acquired properties in Vesec, where the championship tracks lie today. At the time, he told the Land Fund he was planning use the land, which he bought very cheaply, as cow pasture.
Wimětal belongs among a group of entrepreneurs who have greatly profited from a special regime the Land Fund briefly adopted in 2005. Over the course of several days, the so-called "special regime" allowed Fund administrators to sell more than 600 hectares of land with a market value of CZK 2 billion to speculators.
After these cases became public, the Land Fund filed a complaint against its own contracts made with the speculators.
Unending disputes
The Fund has lost three of the land disputes so far, and in 15 cases, where the Fund won, speculators have appealed the rulings and are still awaiting the final decision of the Supreme Court.
Adapted and republished by the Prague Daily Monitor.
