< /p> Former head of Poldi Vladimír Stehlík (pictured on March 14, 2017).
Kladno – Architect and entrepreneur Vladimír Stehlík, associated with Poldi Kladno, has died. He was 79 years old. In the 1990s, he ran the renowned Kladno enterprise for several years, and his company was also co-owned by Poldi. His tenure at the company ended with a series of court cases. Stehlík's death was confirmed by his family, the CNN Prima News website reported today.
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“The last farewell will be held on Tuesday at Prague's Vinohrady Cemetery,” the website said.
Stehlík was born in Prague. He studied architecture at the University of Applied Arts (VŠUP), where he later taught. Already before 1989, he started his own business and also designed interiors abroad. In 1990, he founded the company Bohemia Art, which three years later won the then bankrupt Poldi Kladno in an envelope competition. It offered 1.75 billion crowns for two-thirds of its shares, which was a billion higher than the offer submitted by another interested party. However, the full price was not paid.
Stehlík was the head of Poldi from 1993 to 1996, he wanted to start the company again, but was unsuccessful. This was followed by the declaration of bankruptcy and the stoppage of production of part of the holding. The police charged Stehlík together with his son Marko and Luboš Pejpa. The reason was the non-payment of tens of millions of crowns for employee health insurance and payroll tax. Instead, they used the money for business or personal activities, according to the indictment. Another point of the indictment accused Stehlík of providing interest-free loans to the Bohemia Art company, causing the steel mills to suffer a loss of around 67 million crowns. Many years later, Stehlík was acquitted on these counts.
Another case involving more than 100 million crowns related to the allegedly unauthorized transfer of assets of steel mills to the newly founded company Poldi Steel. In 2018, the court found Stehlík guilty, but did not impose a sentence because the case was subject to amnesty. The court dealt with the case because Stehlík insisted on discussing the indictment.
Stehlík also tried to enter politics. In Kladno in 1996, he ran for the Senate as an independent. In 2002, he led the Party for Life Security (SŽJ) in Kladno for the elections to the Chamber of Deputies. 12 years later, he unsuccessfully ran for the European Parliament.
