CORRUPTION: Little Slovakia Manages a Lot

By Pavol Stracansky Reprint | | Print |

Pavol Stracansky

BRATISLAVA, Aug 26 2005 (IPS) - Corruption watchdog Transparency International has accused the Slovak government of inconsistency after the prime minister sacked economy minister Pavol Rusko over a conflict of interest involving an unexplained 105 million Slovak crown (three million dollar) loan..

Rusko was sacked by Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda after it emerged that he had taken a loan from a businessman in the energy sector, which is undergoing privatisation, while he was economy minister.

Rusko then produced a number of different explanations for what he used the money for. After claiming he had paid it back he was unable to clearly say how he had managed to do so in such short time.

Dzurinda described the loan as a clear case of conflict of interest, and following repeated calls from the leaders of other parties in the government coalition for Rusko to be removed, he asked the president to sack Rusko when he refused to step down.

But corruption watchdog Transparency International Slovakia said that while it was positive that action had been taken to tackle what appeared to be a case of government corruption, leaders of government parties should apply the same standards to their own parties.

“They really need to take a look at themselves. If they want to be consistent after sacking a minister for a failure to adequately explain his dealings, they need to examine what some of them and their parties have been doing,” Emilia Sicakova-Beblava of Transparency International told IPS.

“There are a number of cases, such as the unclear financing of the prime minister’s party and corruption allegations against politicians in the government Christian Democrat (KDH) party that have not been resolved,” she said. “Anyone who can’t explain things like this should step down. Why is it only economy minister Rusko who has to go.”

Transparency International and other anti-corruption groups like the Fair Play Alliance in Slovakia have criticised Dzurinda’s Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU) party for not being clear on its financing since last year when a number of people party leaders claimed had donated funds to its party said they had not done so.

The party has since refused to fully reveal all its donors, and there has been debate about how comprehensively it has to reveal that information under Slovak law.

The KDH has also been rocked by a scandal involving one of its senior politicians. Pavol Bielik was charged last year with demanding a bribe of five million Slovak crowns from a construction company while mayor of a Bratislava district.

He has refused to step down as mayor and remains a member of the KDH.

Members of opposition parties who supported Rusko’s dismissal have also been tarred with scandals over unexplained financing.

In a long-running high-profile case Vladimir Meciar, the former prime minister and leader of the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) party has repeatedly refused to explain clearly how he financed the construction of a 40 million Slovak crown private villa.

“There are lots of these cases which have not been explained to people’s satisfaction, and people are asking what is going on with these cases,” Sicakova-Beblava said.

Rusko, a controversial media mogul who turned to politics just before the last parliamentary elections in 2002 and who led his Aliancia Noveho Obcana (ANO) liberal party into a coalition government, is the latest in a line of Slovak ministers to lose jobs in corruption scandals.

In 2001 then defence minister Pavol Kanis was forced to resign following claims that he could not have financed the construction of a private luxury villa on his salary. He claimed he had won a large sum of money gambling.

In the same year deputy prime minister Pavol Hamzik was forced to resign amid a scandal over the alleged embezzlement of European Union funds by one of his junior members of staff.

In 1999 then transport minister Gabriel Palacka was forced out of government amid allegations of corruption at his ministry. He was followed months later by economy minister Ludovit Cernak following concerns over a non-transparent privatisation of a major gas storage company.

These scandals have eroded public trust in politicians. “The scandal with Rusko will only further reinforce that perception among people,” Sicakova-Beblava said. “It really just goes to prove that what they think is correct.”

Slovakia has a population of 5.4 million.