Prague, Nov 9 (CTK) – Justice Minister Robert Pelikan (ANO) signed an additional protocol to the anti-corruption convention of the Council of Europe (CE) on behalf of the Czech Republic on Thursday, he has told reporters.
The Czech Republic is basically fulfilling the commitments in the protocol. By signing the protocol, it met the last demand of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the CE’s anti-corruption body, Pelikan said.
The Czech Republic was one of the last states to sign the protocol, he added.
The protocol demands, among others, that anti-corruption measures also apply to arbitrators, along with judges.
“We have basically met the commitments,” Pelikan said.
The ratification of the document is to last for about a year, he added.
The CE established GRECO in 1999 to monitor the countries’ observance of anti-corruption standards. The group associates 49 countries now.
Pelikan signed the protocol on the occasion of a two-day conference Go For Zero Corruption held in Prague by the GRECO along with the EC and the Czech Justice Ministry.
In the March assessment, GRECO appreciated the Czech Republic for its effort to reach transparency of political parties’ financing. Prague has met nine out of 13 anti-corruption recommendations, the group said.
It called on the Czech Republic to speed up the process of the ratification of the protocol that Pelikan signed on Thursday.
The group has repeatedly asked Czech bodies to make it clear that all civil servants are included in the definition of bribery and indirect bribery according to a provision in the Penal Code.
The corruption conference closes the fourth assessment round within GRECO. By signing the protocol, the Czech Republic fully met the demands from the third round, Pelikan said.
The Czech Republic has already implemented some elements demanded in the fourth round, such as the register of property statements under the conflict of interest law, to which politicians and senior officials must send data on their incomes.
