Expression of eight members of the Board of Directors of ČKA regarding the letter from Josef Panna dated January 17, 2014

The former chairman of ČKA published a letter on January 17 regarding the board meeting on January 14, where he was dismissed from his position. The undersigned members of the board protest against the content of the letter and also point out the presentation of false information. Josef Panna limited the operations of the ČKA Office with his actions, thereby jeopardizing the functioning of the entire Chamber, repeatedly failed to inform about the outcomes of meetings he held on behalf of the Chamber, and repeatedly did not present a report to the board on urgent decisions he made between board meetings. These facts culminated in a letter from the Office staff to the board members at the December meeting. The situation led to a blockage of communication between the office and the chairman. For these serious reasons, a proposal to dismiss the chairman was presented at the January board meeting. During the voting, out of the 12-member board, 8 members voted in favor, 2 were against, and 1 abstained (1 member was absent). The voting was conducted in the proper manner, and the chairman was dismissed from his position according to §31 paragraph 2 of the Organizational, Procedural, and Election Rules of ČKA.

Josef Panna subsequently published inaccurate and false information about the board meetings and the planned budget for 2014 in his personal letter. The materials for the budget discussion, which he partially published, were only in a working version for discussion. By publishing parts of information taken out of context, he creates a misleading impression about the planned losses. The placement of the mentioned costs and revenues related to the CEC 5 grant is based on valid laws, as explained by the ČKA accountant Tomáš Křenek during the board meeting. The new website is being created at about half the usual commercial costs. Publishing further partial costs, which are in the phase of balance without additional supporting numbers, unnecessarily leads to misinformation of the members. The planned budget for 2014 will, according to the assignment of the General Assembly, be balanced and will be presented to the General Assembly for approval. The board members, given the increased demands on the office in terms of improving services for their members, do not aim to generate profit, as in a private company, but rather propose to purposefully expend entrusted resources for the benefit of ČKA members.

The question of the number of employees at the ČKA Office arises from the assignment of tasks to the board. It is surprising that the former chairman expresses concern over the increase in the number of employees when he himself hired several. The board members do not agree with the former chairman on the issue of the function of the Chamber's secretary and disagree with Josef Panna's proposal to remove this function from the current valid Organizational Regulations for the operations of the ČKA Office. If the former chairman is alone with his proposal, this does not provide grounds to accuse other board members of acting against the interests of ČKA. The board members are convinced that it was precisely in the way of managing the Chamber and tasking the ČKA Office that Josef Panna failed managerially. Eight board members evaluated the situation, starting with the office's letter, as a crisis that was heading towards a mass resignation of the office's employees and its collapse, thereby also leading to the collapse of the Chamber as a whole.

The board members strongly distance themselves from the offensive statements made by the former chairman, which they will not comment on due to their recklessness and inconsistency in details, and request that he adhere to the valid provisions of the Professional and Ethical Code of ČKA. The nature and form of Josef Panna's published letter best illustrate the manner of his communication in recent months and affirm that we made the right decision to dismiss him.

In Prague, on January 30, 2014

Pavel Hnilička, Radek Kolařík, Petr Lešek, Jaroslav Šafer, Petr Janda, Josef Smutný, Milan Košař, Martin A. Tomáš