CORRUPTION: One Resignation Is Not Enough

By Pavol Stracansky Reprint | | Print |

Pavol Stracansky

PRAGUE, Apr 12 2005 (IPS) - Corruption watchdog Transparency International has said the Czech Prime Minister’s offer of resignation following a scandal over the financing of a luxury flat will do little to change a widespread public perception that Czech politicians see themselves as "non-accountable".

Stanislav Gross this weekend offered his resignation following a corruption scandal that has brought the Czech government to the brink of collapse.

Prime Minister Gross had been under pressure to explain the purchase of a luxury flat in Prague since mid-January when a respected Czech newspaper, Mlada fronta Dnes, questioned how he could have made a 50,000 dollar down payment when his income at the time could not support that.

Gross had been asked about the financing of the flat before, and had said he used a bank loan. But when questioned again he said that his uncle lent him the money. It then emerged his uncle did not have that much money to lend. A retired journalist then came forward to claim that he lent Gross’s uncle the money.

Prime Minister Gross went on television and apologised for his conduct, but has denied any wrongdoing in the financing of his flat.

Since then Gross has been struggling to hold together a coalition government that includes his own Social Democrat party, the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union. He survived a no-confidence motion in parliament but a number of ministers resigned in protest over his continued leadership of government.

Transparency International had been among the fiercest critics of Gross as the scandal deepened. In February it urged Gross to resign, and warned that his conduct was damaging the international standing of the country in institutions like the European Union (EU).

This weekend it said his resignation offer had been motivated entirely by politics and not by any need he should have felt to set an example to other politicians.

"I do not think there is any moral reasoning behind Mr Gross’s decision. It is motivated purely by politics. He still has not acknowledged that politicians should be completely uncorrupt," Michal Sticka, project manager with Transparency International in the Czech Republic told IPS.

"The moral case for Mr Gross ended when a few weeks ago he made comments expressing his regret over the scandal. But there has been nothing more than that. There wasn’t enough from him," he added.

Gross has proposed an EU diplomat, Jan Kohout, as his successor, on the terms that Kohout stays on until planned parliamentary elections next year and the government pursues a pro-European agenda.

His resignation offer comes as outgoing information minister Vladimir Mlynar faces criminal charges of abuse of his public position and insider trading.

Following both scandals the Czech public’s faith in politicians has plummeted.

An opinion poll by the CVVM polling agency released this week said that only 20 percent of people had any trust in parliament. Twenty-seven per cent said they trusted the government – down from 34 percent at the start of the year.

Recent opinion articles in Czech newspapers and other media have pointed out that since the country came into being in 1993 there have been six governments, and almost all have been hit by scandals.

"The country needs an accountable government – something we have had little good luck with so far," Sticka said. "The whole scandal and the incapacity of the last government to bring about necessary reform has had an effect on the public perception of politics in this country."

This has reinforced people’s view of politics as a selfish game played by a lot of non-accountable people, he said. "Public opinion polls show that people are unhappy with what is going on in politics and that results in a disillusionment and lack of involvement of people in politics, which is not good for anyone."