Analysis: Courts fail to prove indirect bribery

Prague, March 5 (CTK) - Czech courts were not successful in proving cases of indirect corruption in the past three years, which shows that a special anti-corruption unit is needed, according to a Transparency International (TI) analysis that Deputy Prime Minister Karolina Peake presented Tuesday.

The TI clearly concluded that "the planned establishment of a special anti-corruption state attorney's office is very significant," Peake said.

She said the government would deal with the planned reform of state attorney's offices including the setting up of this special office in the next weeks.

The punishments of indirect corruption between "godfathers" and lobbyists on the one hand and officials and elected state representatives on the other hand are too low.

"We believe that the sanctions could give society a clear signal that corruption not only won't be tolerated but also that it will be strictly punished," TI lawyer Radka Pavlisova said.

She said only nine cases of indirect corruption were registered and the suspects were often acquitted of charges or received inappropriately low punishment.

Cases of sophisticated corruption committed by organised crime groups were not revealed at all, the analysis concluded.

The TI's Czech branch analysed 247 verdicts from January 2010 to April 2012 for Peake's office.

Peake, who is responsible for the coordination of the Czech anti-corruption struggle in the government, said cases of traffic police taking bribes that had been frequent in the previous years disappeared.

On the contrary, it is drivers who were most often punished for corruption. They were charged in 87 cases in 2010-12.

Compared to 2007-09, the number of mistakes by police officers, attorneys or judges related to wiretapping and surveillance decreased.

According to the new analysis, the courts most often dealt with cases of petty corruption.

The complete analysis is available on the TI's website.