Police chief quits in deal to avert gov't collapse

After becoming a playing card in a standoff between government coalition parties, Police President Oldřich Martinů resigned Dec. 22 as part of a backroom deal with Public Affairs (VV) party to prevent the government from collapsing.

Martinů's removal from the police presidium had been central in the political debate that escalated and threatened to bring down the government in a no-confidence vote Dec. 21. The coalition was preserved after a secret meeting brokered by President Václav Klaus resulted in an agreement in which Prime Minister Petr Nečas (Civic Democrats, ODS) reportedly ceded to all of VV's demands, including its request for Martinů's resignation.

"The president explained the results of his meeting yesterday with representatives of the coalition parties in relation to the management of police," Martinů said in a statement Dec. 22. "Because it would calm the situation in the police department and create conditions to work on the limited police budget next year, I decided to resign from my post of chief of police."

Interior Minister Radek John (VV) held a conference following Martinů's resignation, saying his appointed 11-member board would begin looking for a replacement and emphasizing the need for the candidate to be ready to respond to the crisis situation in the department.

"I see this act as the primary impetus for deeper changes that are necessary for the police in the Czech Republic," John said. "The new police chief has to assume the unenviable role of heading the department in the year it will have the biggest financial downturn in its modern history."

Martinů will remain in office until the end of December and has said he will continue to work on the police force in assignments abroad.

Although the deal could help calm the situation in the coalition, according to political analyst Jiří Pehe, the coalition was weakened by the bartering.

"For Nečas, it's really bad news, because now, as many commentators have said, he looks like a small boy holding the hand of his father," Pehe said, adding that Klaus' reputation will depend on what the rest of the terms of the secret agreement were. "Klaus will look very good if he helped broker an agreement that helps to fight corruption and keep the government together, but if the deal is bad and parts of it keep corruption going, he will look more like a Godfather in the mafia."

The backlash could even affect the victors, Pehe said.

"It will depend very much on how the public reads this. VV made this stand against corruption - this is supposedly the reason why they brought the government almost to the brink of collapse - and then they agreed to continue in the government on terms that we don't know. This secret agreement makes them look really non-transparent. It's almost an oxymoron to call them 'Public Affairs,' " he said.

John's crusade to oust Martinů started when Viktor Čech, former deputy police president in charge of the criminal division, resigned suddenly Nov. 22, prompting John to imply there were problems within the department that caused Čech, whom he credited as a major force in reducing corruption, to leave. What ensued was a long series of meetings between Martinů, Nečas and Klaus and then between John, Nečas and Klaus during which time Nečas made clear his opposition to John's campaign to oust Martinů.

John alleges Martinů mishandled finances and personnel, and most recently claimed that Martinů acted improperly by meeting with Nečas and leaking secret information about the corruption case that resulted in Environmental Minister Pavel Drobil's resignation Dec. 21.

The situation in the police department has been troubled for years, said Martin Fendrych, former deputy interior minister and journalist, but this episode certainly won't help. Ironically, despite John's loudly trumpeted anticorruption campaign platform, Fendrych does not expect Martinů's replacement to be clean.

"There is a threat [Transport Minister] Vít Bárta might get involved and that it could in the end be someone close to him, and there is an obvious conflict of interests with his close connections to the security agency ABL," he said. (Bárta was formerly the majority owner of ABL, which is now run by his brother.)

Beyond that, Fendrych added that budget and political conditions in the department are only worsening.

"I don't see the police having a good chance for further development, because who will agree to lead them in such a situation?"  Fendrych said.

- Filip Šenk contributed to this report.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com