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Civic groups urge lobbying reform

Transparency International, politicians at stalemate over the role of political advisers

By Ondřej Bouda
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
December 10th, 2008 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Former Cabinet adviser and lobbyist Miroslav Šlouf agrees that an independent body is necessary to prevent "Wild East tactics."
Top five notorious lobbyists



Miroslav Šlouf is a former member of the Communist Party and an aide to former Prime Minister Miloš Zeman. He is said to have been engaged in allocating rebel votes among opposition MPs during the 2008 presidential elections, in which incumbent Václav Klaus won by a slim margin. In past months, Šlouf has been accused by Czech media of influencing public opinion according to instructions from Moscow
Marek Dalík is closely connected to Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and has been accused of enticing several MPs to defect to the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and support the current government during controversial votes. Topolánek refers to him as a friend. Dalík is currently suing the state for 5 million Kč, claiming that police accusations of bribery cost his consulting firm several clients
Jacek Spyra is a Polish lobbyist who has been involved in several corruption scandals in the Czech Republic, most notably during the privatization of chemical giant Unipetrol, when a 5 million Kč bribe was on the table for keeping the company, which Spyra lobbied for, in the privatization process. Spyra was found guilty Nov. 8 in a check-forging case and received a two-year suspended sentence with four-year probation and a fine of 1 million Kč
Roman Janoušek is said to be the eminence grise behind Prague Mayor Pavel Bém. Janoušek refuses to talk with the media, and Bém refers to him as a friend while dismissing all allegations of corruption. According to Czech media, Janoušek is among the most influential businessmen in the country, influences City Hall's actions and gained his fortune through shadowy deals with municipal government
Czech energy giant ČEZ employs two lobbyists: Jana Marcová and Radmila Kleslová. The first used to be an ODS spokeswoman, the second a member of the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD). ČEZ thus has the two largest government parties covered and is capable of great influence. Critics often accuse the company's lobbying of being responsible for current energy legislation

After nearly two decades of negotiating opaque business deals and maneuvering politics, local lobbyists may face tighter regulations amid public outcries for greater accountability.
On the 19th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, student activists called on politicians to give the Czech democracy a present for its 20th birthday next year in the form of a law regulating lobbyists and their activities.
Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) immediately responded to the initiative and presented its own version of how the law should be prepared. “The current absence of any regulations leads to chaotic and opaque influence of lobbyists on executive and legislative decisions and is unsustainable in the long run,” said TI spokesman David Ondráčka.
TI would like to see the meetings between politicians and lobbyist become more transparent by adopting the same types of regulations that exist in the European Union or United States. The ultimate goal of laying down some basic rules to regulate mediation and influence is concurrent to the government’s anti-corruption strategy and should be easy to implement, said Ondráčka.
The plan is fairly simple, he adds. Politicians would make information about their meetings with lobbyists publicly available. If they fail to inform with whom, where and when they met and what the discussion was about, they should face sanctions.
Professional lobbyists would be required to register in a central database and publish a list of their clients as well as basic economical information, and a new professional body would be formed to supervise the fulfillment of these conditions.
“These basic rules would be beneficial to the whole profession,” said TI Chairman Václav Láska. “After sorting out the bad apples, the term ‘lobbyist’ would no longer carry a pejorative association of corruption.”
Politicians agree that a law regulating lobbying is necessary but the Cabinet version got stuck while trying to define “lobbyist.” The opposition Social Democrats have decided not to wait for the Cabinet proposal and want to have their own version of the law by the end of the year.
In the turbulent years following the 1989 revolution, lobbying here became synonymous with corruption and cronyism. Reports of bribes and death threats among politicians still appear on a regular basis, but without hard evidence perpetrators are rarely uncovered, let alone arrested and sentenced.
In a series of books titled Kmotr Mrázek (Godfather Mrázek), the latest of which was released last month, journalist Jaroslav Kmenta published the conversations of murdered mafia boss František Mrázek, who for years was pulling the strings of top Czech politicians.
One of the country’s most notorious lobbyists is Miroslav Šlouf, whose most recent appearances in local media headlines point to alleged contacts with Russian secret services. In Kmenta’s book, his contact with Mrázek is uncovered.
Šlouf, however, remains calm when questioned about his mafia contacts, and claims not to have known anything about Mrázek’s background. “Collecting information and establishing contacts is an integral part of my job,” he said.
Despite denying any personal wrongdoing, Šlouf agrees that Czech lobbying is ready for a face lift, but is skeptical about its efficiency. It would be extremely difficult to publish all the meetings a politician has with different potential lobbyists, he said.
While only a handful of professional consultants — well-known and closely watched by the media — operate on the Czech scene, every small businessman and each group of environmental activists is a potential lobbyist, Šlouf said. “A professional body such as the doctors or lawyers have is needed to establish regulations and ethical standards,” he added.
For Šlouf, the ideal solution would be a self-regulating professional body that would watch its own members and ensure that no Wild East–style lobbying took place.
Paradoxically, Šlouf said he welcomed TI’s initiative. Such a proposal would never come from lobbyists, who are reluctant to surrender the freedom they currently enjoy, he explained. While lobbying is an integral part of a modern democratic society, according to Šlouf, the temptation to ask for or offer bribes can corrupt less experienced lobbyists, who do not yet realize the need for a good reputation. “For myself, I can say that I would gladly adopt the European legislation concerning lobbyists, as TI proposes,” Šlouf concluded.
Real transparency
While certain lobbyists may be willing to adopt European regulations, that system is itself far from perfect. The European Commission set up a register of lobbyists this past June but, according to European lobbying watchdog ALTER-EU, the register is fundamentally flawed due to the disorganization of its financial reporting system and because it does not require organizations to register individual lobbyists who work for them.
The commission believes peer pressure will force all lobbyists to register in order to become more trustworthy. However, ALTER-EU does not consider the effort sufficient.
“As things stand, even if every interest group in Brussels signed up to the register tomorrow, this would not ensure real transparency,” said ALTER-EU spokesman Jorgo Riss. “A lobby register without the names of lobbyists is as useful as a phone book without numbers.”
A meaningful register must disclose the names of lobbyists, the finances involved in any lobbying effort and the specific lobbying issues, according to ALTER-EU.
Despite the loopholes in EU regulations, the Czech Republic can look to Brussels for guidance. The commission is currently piloting a new transparency policy in an effort to fix glitches in the new regulations.
However, without a change in the mindsets of lobbyists, politicians and even the general population, this law may well become another redundant piece of bureaucracy. “As with any other profession, everything comes down to individual honesty and the society’s ethical stance,” Šlouf said.

Ondřej Bouda can be reached at obouda@praguepost.com


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