Prague, July 30 (CTK) – Former minister David Rath, whom a court sentenced to prison for corruption a week ago, is a political child of the first wave of the anti-corruption revolution in the Czech Republic, Stanislav Balik writes in weekly Reflex out Thursday.
When Stanislav Gross had to give up his post of Social Democrat (CSSD) prime minister over his suspected corruption in 2005, he was replaced by Jiri Paroubek who promoted new, different people to top posts. One of them was the eccentric and hyperactive Rath whom Paroubek made health minister, Balik writes.
If the Constitutional Court had not cancelled the early election scheduled for 2009, the CSSD would have probably won them clearly and Rath would have become interior minister and he would be ready to take up the post of prime minister after Paroubek’s possible victory in the presidential election, Balik writes.
If Rath would have been interior minister, he would have been certainly able to prevent the police from accusing him of corruption and catching him with a huge bribe in 2012, Balik says.
Last week, the court sentenced Rath to 8.5 years in prison for corruption and manipulation of public tenders. Rath’s lawyer has appealed the verdict.
Rath’s corruption case, which started three years ago, helped anti-political forces gain power, Balik writes, hinting at the ANO movement of Andrej Babis, now finance minister.
However, the CSSD that helped Rath rise to power is ruling the country, Balik writes.
Though Rath was strongly identified with the Social Democrats, the party managed to tear its links to him. It was Rath thanks to whom the CSSD beat the Civic Democrats (ODS), its then biggest rival, in the 2008 regional elections in Central Bohemia, which the ODS had controlled until then, Balik writes.
Rath made the Social Democrats strong in the Central Bohemia Region. But when the large-scale corruption related to public tenders organised by the region headed by Rath was revealed, it did not seriously harm the CSSD Central Bohemian branch, which is rather suprising, Balik writes.
The corruption scandal around ODS prime minister Petr Necas’s office head and lover, Jana Nagyova, from mid-2013 still heavily burdens the Civic Democrats whose preferences steeply fell in the past few years, Balik writes.
Current Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka chose Rath as shadow health minister when the CSSD was in opposition in the previous election period, which means that Sobotka trusted Rath, Balik writes.
If Sobotka failed in selecting members of his shadow cabinet then, how well did he choose the ministers of his coalition cabinet? Balik says.
Rath’s case also poses a question concerning checks of the public sphere, he says.
Many checks of public authorities have been made in the recent years, yet none of them uncovered the corruption practices in which Rath participated, Balik writes.
The punishment for Rath seems strict, but too many months have passed since Rath’s arrest and the future definitive verdict is unlikely to have strong impact on society and will not lead to any political catharsis, Balik indicates.
