CORRUPTION: Little Check on Czechs

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

PRAGUE, Oct 24 2007 (IPS) - Corruption remains a key – and unresolved – issue in the Czech Republic&#39s moves to reach the standards of Western Europe.

The Czech Republic is considered by Transparency International (TI) as one of the most ineffective countries in the European Union (EU) in terms of curbing corrupt practices. A Gallup poll carried out last year finds that 17 percent of Czechs admit having given a bribe, a number well above the EU&#39s 2 percent or Russia&#39s 8 percent.

The EU has repeatedly criticised Prague over its poor anti-corruption record.

"The Czech Republic suffers a lot from ground political corruption, and there are irregular procedures involving the awarding of public funds," Michal Sticka, head of the advocacy and legal advice centre for TI Czech Republic told IPS.

The Czech government approved a document in March that would set up special courts and allow crown witnesses to testify against superiors, but words have not been backed by action.

"The current government has taken some steps, but much more needs to be done," Sticka says. Transparency International says courts are ineffective. "Much more attention needs to be devoted to reforming the Czech police and investigating white collar crime."

Most cases that end up in Czech courts – police experts estimate these to be 1 percent of all corruption crimes – are relatively unimportant. The perpetrators generally receive suspended sentences.

Corporate responsibility is absent from Czech legislation, quite an exception in the EU&#39s legal landscape. This means that only individual employees can be punished for proven wrongdoings by companies.

Justice minister Jiri Pospisil, before taking up his current post, had criticised attempts to introduce a law on corporate responsibility in 2002, claiming it would lead to the "criminalisation of business." A similar proposal is now awaiting approval, but Pospisil has not repeated his opposition to it.

While a law on access to information exists, state institutions consistently limit public access to information on various tenders, or limit the number of bidders, citing concerns over "national security".

The defence ministry has been recurrently accused of following such practices; last July two public tenders were cancelled due to lack of transparency after defence minister Vlasta Parkanova intervened. While the fact that the minister admitted they had been tailor-made for a handful of companies could be seen as a relative improvement, no one was punished.

Many have pointed to the Czech Republic&#39s former co-federative partner Slovakia as an example to follow, if only the politicians showed enough political will.

The southern neighbour has set up special courts to judge serious corruption crimes by politicians, officials and economic agents. Its judges receive salaries three times higher, and undergo security screenings. Slovak legislation also allows the police to use citizens as agents to garner proof against corrupt individuals.

The promise to end corruption has been a recurrent theme in Czech politics, but all cabinets have failed to deliver on their promises. Skeptical observers say governments only act as a result of pressure from Brussels.

Critics say governments have made accusations of corruption in the pre-electoral period as a political ploy.

Four days before last June&#39s general election, which shifted power from the social democrats (CSSD) to the neo-liberal Civic Democrats (ODS), Jan Kubice, head of the organised crime unit of the Czech police, submitted a report to the parliament&#39s lower house defence and security committee in which the governing social democrats were accused of links with organised crime.

The report was leaked to the media two days before the social democrats narrowly lost the vote. The opposition, accusing Kubice of serving then opposition ODS, has demanded an inquiry into the case by a parliamentary commission, but the government is refusing to heed the calls.

A special analysis team of state attorneys concluded last April that the report had not been presented in line with Czech law, and that its conclusions were unfounded. The report just stopped short of accusing Kubice of trying to influence the June election.

The government was accused last summer of covering up a serious corruption case against deputy prime minister, local development minister and senator Jiri Cunek.

Cunek was accused earlier this year of accepting a 17,000 euro bribe from a real estate company in 2002 at a time when he headed the municipality of Vsetin, a town north-east of Prague.

After an unusual change in the state attorney in charge of the case, prosecution was halted on the grounds that the main witness in the case, Cunek&#39s former secretary Marcela Urbanova, lacked credibility.

Urbanova, who was also charging the minister with sexual harassment, claimed to have been offered a bribe on Cunek&#39s behalf if she changed her testimony.

The accusation against the secretary was not backed by evidence, Czech journalists claimed. The press also asked why the state attorney failed to bring false testimony charges against Urbanova if she indeed lacked credibility.

State attorney Arif Salichov said the police, with the assistance of the state attorney&#39s office, had manipulated the case, but did not announce any investigation into the police conduct, and did not provide any evidence to back his accusations.

Neither the state attorney nor Cunek provided a credible explanation for the origin of the money, or how the minister had amassed his fortune.

Citing presumption of innocence, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek for months refused to sack the minister, who is leader of the Christian Democrats, a coalition partner. The press interpreted this as Topolanek&#39s fear that the government would collapse without support of its junior partner.

The Czech lower chamber&#39s 200 deputies were evenly divided between governing and opposition parties, but the cabinet enjoys the sporadic support of two former social democrats who left the opposition following the June vote. ODS has the most parliamentary seats, 81, and its allies, the Christian Democrats and the Greens have 13 and 6 respectively.

The opposition and practically the entire press reacted with disbelief over closure of legal procedures, casting a permanent shadow on the controversial minister and the cabinet.