Czech Political Scandals

This year there have been three high profile arrests – Rath, Parkanová and Šiška. Are we seeing more political will to tackle corruption? Or will history repeat itself?
   
The Clown Prince
In 2005, the Czech National Football Team still commanded some respect; the National Ice Hockey Team won gold at the international championship, and a young Stanislav Gross was disposed as prime minister of the Czech Republic.

Stanislav Gross

Scandal Magnet
Jiří Čunek has managed to generate a lot of press in his career. A former secretary accused him of sexual harassment and was awarded 80,000 CZK in damages this year. In 2006, while he was mayor Vsetín, he forced 36 Roma families from the municipal flats where they lived. Czech TV reported that in the 1990s Čunek received social benefits when he had 3.5 million on his bank account.

Jiří Čunek

A Very Public Affair
The general feeling then, as now, was that the whole political class was awash in kickbacks and fueled by graft. Enter Public Affairs (Veřejné věci or VV) – fronted by former journalist and novelist Radek John.

Formed in 2001, VV came to prominence in 2010, styling itself as the new, corruption-free kids on the parliamentary block. Appearances soon changed. Party boss Vít Bárta was accused of bribing two of the party’s MPs, Kristýna Kočí and Jaroslav Škárka, for loyalty. Bárta received an 18-month suspended sentence, which he appealed back in June of this year. He maintains that he had only given them interest-free loans. 

Just Friends
Bárta had a minor role in another affair. In 2009, ABL, the security firm he owned at the time, allegedly obtained wire taps from the Czech intelligence agency, BIS. The taps were of former Prague mayor Pavel Bém (ODS) and business man and lobbyist Roman Janoušek in 2007.

BIS director Jiří Lang said in an interview with Respekt that the bugging took place because Janoušek was interested in the privatization of Ruzyně (now Václav Havel) airport. One conversation reveals Bém and Janoušek discussing who should be the head of the largest public insurer, VZP. In another conversation published on iDnes, the pair appear to speak in code, referring to ‘a dead horse’ and a ‘Maori queen’. There is also mention of an envelope, though the nature of this is not elaborated, and Bém said in the conversation that he didn’t understand Janoušek’s reference. Bém offered no explanation of the conversation to the press at the time. Concerning his relationship with Janoušek, he said they were close friends.

A Fine Vintage
While it could be debated that Bém got away scot-free, some more recent cases suggest the situation may be changing.

On 5th June, an overwhelming majority of members of the Czech lower house agreed to remove Rath’s immunity. (Czech politicians are immune from criminal prosecution unless the lower house decides otherwise.) Perhaps the decision shows a multi-partisan stance against corruption. More likely, the MPs had no other choice. Rath remains in prison but continues to be a member of parliament.
    
Jet Setter
Almost exactly two months after Rath’s arrest, Vlasta Parkanová (TOP 09) was stripped of her immunity and forced to resign from her position as deputy speaker, but retained her parliamentary seat.

Vlasta Parkanová

Police intended to charge her with breach of trust and abuse of power relating to the purchase of four CASA C-295 military transport planes from her time as Minister of Defense. There was no open tender for the deal. Apparently, the state paid an additional 658 million CZK above market price for the planes. The four planes were subsequently grounded due to technical failures.

And Once More
This brings us to the latest case. On the 1st October 2012, Vladimír Šiška, the assistant to the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, was charged with accepting bribes.

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