New members on ČEZ supervisory board

Politicians are cycling in and out of state-owned energy company ČEZ, by way of supervisory board appointments and resignations.

Martin Říman (ODS) and Eduard Janota were confirmed as members of the board Friday, Aug. 14. The board now has 11 members, with one seat that remains vacant. Two other board members resigned to avoid conflict of interest: Industry and Trade Minister Martin Kocourek and Agriculture Minister Ivan Fuksa.

Říman was head of the Industry and Trade Ministry under Mirek Topolánek's government, which suffered a vote of no-confidence in May 2009, and has been serving as Prime Minister Petr Nečas' aide. Janota was the finance minister under the caretaker government that followed. Janota had also been director of the state budget department since 1992.

The supervisory board has not decided who will be the next chairperson, but the issue will likely be included in the board's mid-September meeting, according to ČEZ spokesman Ladislav Kříž.

In June, Říman was quoted by the Czech News Agency as predicting a turnover in the supervisory board to better align members with the current coalition leadership.

"The new prime minister must trust the new people," he said June 24.

Other members of the supervisory board that were named by the daily Hospodářské noviny (HN) in June as being potentially replaced remain on the board, however. Jan Demjanovič, for example, has reportedly close ties to Topolánek and his "controversial" friend Marek Dalík, but still holds a spot on the board. HN also named Zdeněk Trojan, Zdeněk Hrubý, Petr Kalaš and Ivan Fuksa as leaving the board.

Trojan was a chief aide to former Social Democrats (ČSSD) Chairman Jiří Paroubek, Hrubý served as deputy to current ČSSD Chairman Bohuslav Sobotka, and Kalaš is a former environment minister.

The state holds a 70 percent stake in ČEZ. After its most recent general meeting, the state received record dividends of nearly 20 billion Kč from 2009's financial year.

Claire Compton can be reached at
ccompton@praguepost.com