Milos Balak, the former head of the Lani Forest Administration, who was convicted of breach of duty in property management, did not agree to terminate the lease on the castle-owned villa. Therefore, he filed a lawsuit in court for the invalidity of the notice, Deník N. The sued party was the management of last year’s branch, which he led for many years. The website Seznam Zprávy reported in early April that Palak would pay 6,300 crowns a month for the 21-room villa.
Balak was sworn in as head of the forest administration on December 31 last year, two months before the end of President Milos Zeman’s term. In the first half of May, he received a notice from the President’s office to rent a house with an area of 250 square meters. “Lani’s forestry administration also cited his cases, in which he was found guilty by the court, as the reason for the decision,” said Pavel Rus, the current director of Lani’s forest management.
Palak disagreed with this statement and therefore appealed to the court. “On June 14, 2023, Ing. Balak filed a lawsuit for invalidation of the housing lease notice against the defendant Lani Forestry Administration,” said Denik N. Lukas Randa, deputy president of the District Court in Civil Kladno. Legal Division. According to him, the court told Balak that the case should be settled at the Court of First Instance in Rakownik, where Balak’s seat falls.
Balak refuses to leave the grove for several reasons. According to the current head of Lanska Obori, for example, Rusa notes that he is still an employee of the forest administration and therefore has the right to continue living in the house. Thanks to a pardon by former President Milos Zeman, his conviction for influencing a forestry deal was overturned last year, and he says he should be seen as innocent.
In mid-March, the court upheld a fine of 870,000 kroner and a two-year ban for Palak. Case related to stone quarrying in Lanska Nature Reserve. Czech TV reported last week that Balak had appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court.
Balak was already convicted last year in another case, that of influencing a two-hundred million deal. However, then President Zeman pardoned him and Balak remained the head of the Office of the President’s Contributory Organization until the end of last year.
