Defence Minister pledges to cut tentacles of corruption after deputy minister is implicated in arms corruption scandal

A Czech newspaper has blown the whistle on what appears to be a far reaching political corruption cartel involving multi-billion crown defence contracts. The Minister of Defence has sacked a long standing deputy minister and promised far reaching reform.

Alexandr Vondra, photo: CTK

Minister of Defence Alexandr Vondra declared in a press conference on Wednesday his determination to cut off the tentacles of corruption that have apparently reached far into his ministry and high into the polical hierarchy.

Mr. Vondra’s declaration in a hastily convened press conference followed the explosion of another scandal about arms procurement at the already tainted ministry.

At the centre of this scandal is the former deputy minister Jaroslav Kopřiva who was in charge of arms procurement until he was sacked on the spot.

Daily newspaper Mladá fronta dnes tracked the deputy minister for six months as he apparently tried to frame a multi-billion crown order for 25 vehicle mounted mortars from the Finnish company Patria. The paper described how the deputy minister teamed up with a lobbyist and constructed the deal as a joint purchase with Slovakia to more easily bypass public tender rules.

The paper also alleges that Mr. Kopřiva lined up the current military expert from the TOP 09 political party, Pavel Severa, to step into his shoes and safeguard the deal if he was forced out of the ministry.

Jaroslav Kopřiva, photo: CTK

Top 09 put forward Mr. Severa as a deputy defence minister during the summer but he denies any involvement in the deal. Mr. Kopřiva says he is sure a police investigation will clear his name.

In the meantime, Mr.Vondra has promised root and branch reform at the ministry, especially where notoriously corruption prone arms tenders are involved. He has pledged that completed, ongoing, and contracts in preparation will all be investigated by a new commission. Priority will be given to cases where third party intermediaries were involved.

The long time frame is needed thanks to the fact that the disgraced deputy minister was the Christian Democrat nominee at the ministry in charge of procurement for seven years starting in 2003.

Jiří Komínek is the local correspondent for the international defence publication Jane’s Weekly. He says it will be difficult to unravel past defence contracts but the new probe could help put the ministry on the right track in the future.

“Once things have been purchased, once contracts have been signed, it is going to be difficult to do something about reversing decisions that were made in the past. However, it could drive a wedge between the status quo that has controlled this procurement process up until the present — up until the elections in May — and what will occur down the road.”

Mr. Komínek says there does seem to be a political willingness on the part of Mr. Vondra to get to grips with the octopus of corruption.

Photo: Barbora Němcová

“Up until now, he appears to be delivering. People I have been speaking to — call them observers — are until now quite satisfied with his efforts. What will happen down the road remains to be seen, but he clearly seems to be making a concerted effort to do something about the problem at this point.”

He picks out one key step so far as the proposal to re-write defence procurement rules so that Czech middle men no longer have to be involved in major deals, a stipulation that cultivated shady deals and corruption.