CZECH REPUBLIC: Corruption Returns to Haunt Government

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

PRAGUE, Jan 2 2008 (IPS) - Former deputy prime minister Jiri Cunek intends to return to his post in spite of public rejection of the alleged corruption scandals involving him.

According to a poll published Dec. 27, the leader of the junior governing Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) was the most disappointing Czech politician of 2007, only a year after being considered the country’s most popular political figure.

The Czech Republic is governed by a coalition dominated by the neo-liberal Civic Democrats (ODS), and which also includes the junior governing Green party.

Cunek resigned Nov. 1 after it was announced that an investigation into his alleged corruption case was to be reopened. But later that month controversial state attorney Arif Salichov decided to definitively cut short his prosecution.

It was the second time Salichov halted an investigation against Cunek.

Cunek had been accused of collecting social benefits and housing allowances from the state in the late 1990s, a time when his bank account showed 130,000 euro. The minister argued that savings do not count as income in allocating social benefit allowances, but eventually resigned.

Now Cunek says his name has been cleared and, counting on his party’s backing, is intent on regaining his posts as deputy prime minister and local development minister in the right-wing cabinet.

“The government is already quite unpopular at the moment; bringing Cunek back will likely just increase this unpopularity,” Daniel Hnizdo, fellow at Charles University in Prague told IPS.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has said he would consider Cunek’s request to return to the cabinet.

“I’ve always said that if Jiri Cunek’s name is exonerated from the suspicions, he can return to government. Now it only depends on the media, the public and the coalition partners whether they would cope with such a situation,” he said.

Topolanek’s warnings proved true, and immediately after the Christian Democrat leadership re-proposed Cunek for the ministries, dissenting voices were heard from senior officials in both coalition parties.

Interior Minister Ivan Langer (ODS) told journalists he wasn’t sure it was better to be in government with Cunek or watching him from the opposition. Green party chairman Martin Bursik called the KDU-CSL decision to re-nominate Cunek “extraordinarily unfortunate”, whereas Green-nominated Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg described it as a “successful suicide attempt of the government.”

The following day Green deputies’ group head Katerina Jacques told journalists the four Green-nominated ministers could resign as a result of Cunek returning to the cabinet.

This would effectively put an end to the ruling coalition as it commands a one-deputy majority in parliament.

“We believe that this situation will not happen, that the Christian Democrats will understand that this is no good either for them or for this government, or that the prime minister will use his right simply not to nominate him,” Jacques added.

Reacting to the statements, Cunek said he did not understand his coalition partner’s attitude since there are no legal or moral grounds impeding his comeback.

Following the verbal exchanges Topolanek reformulated his stance, claiming that although he had never ruled out the former minister’s return to the cabinet, he believed “it would be far more fortunate if they (KDU-CSL) did not act so hastily, and recommended a different person” to head the ministry temporarily.

“The present government has a problem in that they depend on Cunek’s party, yet they realise that any move allowing him to return would be unpopular with members of the ODS and particularly the Greens,” Hnizdo told IPS.

“Unfortunately they depend on the support of both parties, so a compromise will have to be reached,” Hnizdo says.

The last months have seen support for the ruling ODS drop to levels below that of the main opposition party, the social democrats (CSSD).

Also the Christian Democrats, who have seen four changes at the party’s helm since 1999, have registered a consistent decrease in voter preferences, and their supporters are increasingly concentrated in only a few regions.

In spite of reports of unsatisfied senators, deputies and regional party organisations, Cunek was re-confirmed as chairman during the party’s national conference last November, though it became clear his sponsors mostly hail from Moravia, in the eastern Czech Republic.

The party’s leadership seemingly accepted the former minister’s explanation of the scandals involving him, but the country is far from convinced.

Last August prosecutors had declared another investigation of a corruption case involving Cunek was to be halted on the grounds that the main witness in the case, Cunek’s former secretary Marcela Urbanova, lacked credibility.

Moreover, district state attorney Arif Salichov argued that the police and the state attorney’s office had manipulated the case, but failed to back the claims with evidence.

The former minister was charged with accepting a 17,000 euro bribe from a real estate company in 2002 when he was the mayor of Vsetin, a town 270km north-east of Prague.

Opposition politicians and the media accused the government of covering up the case as no explanation was given as to the origin of the sum which appeared in Cunek’s personal account at that time.

According to Transparency International (TI) the Czech Republic is one of the worst performers in Europe when it comes to curbing corrupt practices, and the EU has frequently censured Prague over its poor anti-corruption record.