PM Nečas concerned about government officials linked to private security firm
Curbing corruption was one of the promises made by the new centre-right Czech government appointed last week by President Václav Klaus. But its anti-corruption drive has come in the spotlight over the staffing policy of one of the coalition parties, Public Affairs. Its ministers have already hired several former employees of a security firm closely linked to the party’s Vít Bárta, who himself holds the transport portfolio.
Eighteen years later, Mr Bárta is the Czech transport minister, and the firm’s former recruitment manager, Josef Dobeš, is minister of education. Three deputy ministers – of the interior, education and transport – also previously worked for ABL.
Prime Minister Petr Nečas told Czech TV on Sunday that he considered the situation “unusual”. However, he said, he had been assured by Public Affairs that ABL would not take part in tenders for public contracts at the ministries in question.
“I think there would a problem if this was happening secretly. But it’s happening completely openly, and it’s very typical for any top manager to bring in his own team that he fully trusts. Such a team can start performing much sooner than a team of people who first need to get to know each other.”
Vít Bárta sold ABL to his brother in June when it became obvious his party would form part of the new government. But some believe that this does not automatically ensure transparency. Silvie Lauder is a reporter for the Czech weekly Respekt who has been following corruption issues in the Czech Republic. She says there are several problems about the number of people from ABL who now work for the government.
“One of them is information. The fact that these people don’t work there any longer does not mean that they are not in touch with the people who work in ABL now. And if you have several people from ABL working for the Interior Ministry, through that they can access information they would not normally have.”
