Region: Slovak PM vows corruption fight

Michaela Terenzani-Stanková

For the Slovak Spectator

August marked a year since Prime Minister Iveta Radičová took office, pledging to stamp out corruption at all levels of society and to introduce measures to promote transparency.

But her efforts have taken several hits in the intervening months as her government has endured a slew of corruption and cronyism accusations of its own, often putting the prime minister and her Cabinet on the defensive.

At its first meeting after the summer break, the Cabinet Aug. 10 agreed on a strategy to tackle the problem and vowed to make good on Radičová's campaign promise.

"Corruption is an octopus, a spider's web that tangles up not just Slovakia," Radičová said. "It would be naive to rely solely on individual change when [corruption] has slowly become a systemic element in this country."

The Cabinet referred to the results of the Global Corruption Barometer survey published by Transparency International (TI) in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It revealed that one in four households in Slovakia that sought help from the Slovak health service over the past year paid a bribe, making it one of the many areas where so-called "minor corruption" occurs most frequently. The results also revealed that the Slovak public participated in bribery frequently at land registry offices (15.8 percent of people) and courts (14.8 percent).

The local poll was carried out by TI Slovakia in partnership with the UNDP regional center in Bratislava and the British Embassy in Slovakia.

The strategy

A draft document of the Cabinet's anti-corruption strategy claims that corruption is a widespread form of criminality in Slovakia, that it occurs in both the public and private spheres and often becomes a means to commit other crimes, usually connected with abuse of power.

The plan calls for an analysis to identify entities with the biggest risk of corrupt behavior. The analysis is scheduled to be completed by November, and, following that, concrete legislative measures to eliminate potential legal shortcomings are to be drafted through February 2012. Criteria and procedures for awarding licenses, concessions, permits, loans, subsidies and contributions are to be defined with the aim of ensuring their objectivity and transparency by December 2012, and an enforceable ethical code is to be put in place by March 2013, the document said.

EU funds linked to corruption

Apart from what the prime minister called "minor corruption," the material also looks at corruption at the highest levels of the state administration, highlighting in particular corruption related to the drawing of EU funds.

A prime example of such corruption was the infamous bulletin-board tender, a public procurement at the former Construction Ministry under the previous government, when it was overseen by a minister from the Slovak National Party (SNS), who are now accused of having manipulated the 120 million euro tender.

The Cabinet document cited as key concerns artificially inflated prices for services and supplies, discrimination during tenders and the harm that EU-funds-related corruption cases do to Slovakia's reputation abroad. It specifically expressed concern that the reputation resulting from such practices discourages private businesses from investing in Slovakia.

"The priority should thus be an effort to improve the mechanism for distributing EU funds, and its de-politicization by drawing a line between political and professional posts," the document said.

Corruption in courts

The Cabinet also highlighted the justice system as having a unique position in the campaign against corruption. It said this is partly because the corrupt officials in this area are experts on criminal law and cases typically involve a very limited number of people, usually only two (a lawyer and a judge or prosecutor) or at most three (a suspect, a lawyer and a judge or prosecutor).

The Cabinet proposed to develop measures to increase the competencies of bodies active in criminal prosecution, improve the quality of technical equipment and provide more consistent and thorough protection of whistle-blowers. The Interior Ministry was assigned to draft the related amendments. 

Michaela Terenzani-Stanková can be reached at news@praguepost.com