US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA486

UNCLAS  BRATISLAVA 000486 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KJUS, KCOR, PINR, LO 
SUBJECT: CORRUPTION: SOME GOOD LAWS IN PLACE; LOCAL 
GOVERNMENTS NEW AREA FOR CONCERN 
 
 
1. Summary: Reducing corruption in Slovakia has been a 
long-term U.S. goal.  The laws are now generally good, 
although some gaping weaknesses remain.  An area of 
growing concern is public procurement at the local and 
regional levels, where officials act beyond the 
control of the national auditor's office, and without 
other checks such as rival political parties and media 
watchdogs that exist at the national level.  GOS 
officials and NGO's continue to work on the problem, 
and we will provide moral and economic arguments on 
fighting corruption where possible.  End summary. 
 
2. Minister of Justice Daniel Lipsic and Director of 
Transparency International Slovakia's (TIS) local and 
regional anti-corruption program Vladimir Pirosik 
discussed the fight against corruption in a public 
event organized by the Standing Conference of the 
Civil Institute (SKOI--established in 1993). 
Frantisek Sebej (journalist, former MP, and long-term 
democracy activist) moderated the discussion, which 
was partially funded by the Dutch Embassy. 
 
3. Both Lipsic and Pirosik stated that the legal 
framework for the fight against corruption is 
generally complete.  There are some areas for 
improvement, for example eliminating such 
discretionary provisions as "may issue a fine, permit 
or concession."  Also, penalties should be more 
strictly defined, rather than including broad ranges 
of fines "of up to 10 million Slovak crowns."  Pirosik 
suggested that a special working group should be 
established to review all the relevant laws and 
recommend elimination of these weaknesses. 
 
4. Parliament rejected a proposed "law on origin of 
property," which would permit a civil court to 
confiscate property acquired illegally.  Lipsic 
believes the law is necessary and in accordance with 
the Constitution. Pirosik considers the law to be a 
dangerous, populist idea from opposition leader Robert 
Fico, which is unconstitutional because it is based on 
a presumption of guilt and is retroactive.  The debate 
was rather theoretical because they both stated that 
there is no chance that the law will be passed in this 
election term. The same is true for the amendment to 
the Constitution on the restriction of immunity from 
prosecution for members of parliament. 
 
5. Traditionally, Slovaks perceive the highest amount 
of corruption in health care, education and the 
judiciary.  Pirosik said it is also widespread in the 
construction sector.  Lipsic stressed corruption in 
public procurement, which will continue to be a 
problem in the future because there are billions of 
crowns spent every year.  A new law on public 
procurement is currently being drafted.  Lipsic 
invited all experts, including those from the NGO 
sector, to help to identify the problems and to draft 
a good law. 
 
6. Both Lipsic and Pirosik agreed that corruption is 
becoming a serious problem at the local and regional 
levels.  With decentralization, substantial amounts of 
money are transferred to these levels and there is 
almost no control over how it is used.  The national 
auditor's office (NKU) does not have the right to 
audit local and regional self-governments.  Local 
political parties are corrupt and do not parallel 
relationships at the national level.  Rather, local 
and regional government structures are more like 
"brotherhoods" or clans, which corruptly cooperate 
across party lines and in this respect have identical 
interests.  Media outlets are often owned by mayors or 
municipal offices, so they do not fulfill their 
watchdog role. 
 
7. Lipsic stated that MOJ submitted an amendment to 
the constitution providing NKU with the power audit 
money at the local and regional levels.  It was 
approved by the cabinet on June 8.  However, he 
expects strong resistance in parliament, mainly due to 
lobbying by the Association of Towns and Communities 
(ZMOS).  In recent years, police and prosecutors have 
identified and prosecuted several corrupt local 
politicians through new techniques such as under-cover 
cops.  Pirosik said that TIS established a network of 
citizens who are interested in what's happening in 
their respective towns/municipalities and who monitor 
the sessions of city and regional councils. In 
Bratislava, TIS was unfortunately able to field only 
one activist. 
 
8. Comment:  Reducing governmental corruption has been 
a long-term U.S. goal in Slovakia and continues to be 
 
 
an MPP democracy goal for the embassy.  Before Lipsic 
became Minister of Justice, he was an employee of the 
American Bar Association's Central Europe and Eurasia 
Legal Initiative (ABA-CEELI) and worked on judicial 
reform and anti-corruption measures.  Much progress 
has been made on the legislative front, and in the 
creation of a special prosecutor and court to handle 
high-level corruption cases.  However, the current 
government seems to have hit a dead end; politicians 
simply are not willing to submit themselves to 
stricter controls, and public pressure is not 
effective in forcing further change.  Additional anti- 
corruption measures at the local level and in public 
procurement will be critically important.  We will 
closely watch future developments and make both moral 
and economic arguments to encourage greater 
transparency. End Comment. 
 
THAYER 
 
 
NNNN