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Viewing cable 07PRAGUE122, CZECH SENATE GIVES OK FOR PROSECUTION OF DEPUTY

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07PRAGUE122 2007-02-08 12:45 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Prague
VZCZCXRO1908
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHPG #0122/01 0391245
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081245Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8552
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRAGUE 000122 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/NCE EFICHTE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EZ
SUBJECT: CZECH SENATE GIVES OK FOR PROSECUTION OF DEPUTY 
PRIME MINISTER JIRI CUNEK 
 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY  On February 7, the Czech Senate decided, by 
a single vote, to remove the criminal immunity of Senator 
Jiri Cunek, Principal Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for 
Regional Development, and Chairman of the ruling coalition's 
junior member, the Christian Democrats. The vote means that 
police can formally charge Cunek, who is suspected of taking 
a bribe in 2002, and proceed with their criminal 
investigation. PM Topolanek has said he will not ask Cunek to 
resign from the government, but has otherwise said little in 
Cunek's defense. If Cunek resigns, his departure will have 
little effect on the ruling coalition, but could be another 
damaging blow to his own party. END SUMMARY 
 
WHAT'S BEHIND THE MOVE 
 
2. (U) Cunek would be the first sitting member of a Czech 
cabinet to be formally prosecuted, though he is the fifth 
Senator to have his immunity removed in the Senate's ten 
years. Cunek has not yet been formally charged, but must be 
charged before Sunday, February 11, when the five-year 
statute of limitations runs out. The specific charge is that 
he took a bribe of half a million crowns (USD 13,500 at 2002 
exchange rate) from a real estate firm while mayor of a small 
Moravian town in 2002.  Police are suspicious because Cunek 
made a deposit of 497,000 crowns just after the real estate 
firm made a withdrawal of 499,000 crowns. There is also an 
inexplicable discrepancy between his family income (2.6 
million crowns) and his family expenditures (4.5 million 
crowns) for the early years of his political career. His wife 
says she received 1.5 million crowns to build a dental office 
from a friend whose name she does not wish to reveal. Cunek's 
former secretary told police that Cunek gleefully showed her 
a satchel of cash and as much as admitted it was a bribe. Two 
weeks before the Senate vote, Cunek stated publicly that he 
looked forward to having his immunity stripped so he could 
defend himself. But in a speech to colleagues before the 
vote, he said nothing along those lines. His attorney, 
meanwhile, distributed a message asking colleagues to let him 
keep his immunity. 
 
3. (U) Czech law puts the onus of proof on the prosecution to 
establish that assets were acquired illegally.  You can not 
be convicted simply because your assets and expenditures far 
outstrip your legally reported income. A conviction may prove 
difficult. 
 
THE POLITICAL DYNAMIC 
 
4. (U) None of the five Senators who are also in the cabinet 
voted to allow Cunek to be prosecuted. Deputy Prime Minister 
Sasha Vondra (ODS), and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg 
both voted to allow Cunek to keep his immunity, as did 
Cultural Minister Vaclav Jehlicka, from Cunek's own party. 
Cunek himself abstained, as did Health Minister Tomas Julinek 
(ODS).  But four members of Cunek's party did vote to turn 
lift immunity, including the Vice President of the Senate, 
Petr Pithart, as well as the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of 
the Christian Democrats' faction in the Senate. Sixteen of 
the 41 ODS Senators also voted to allow prosecution, 
including the President of the Senate, Premysl Sobotka. 
 
5. (U) The Green Party, the other junior party in the 
three-party coalition, are critics of Cunek already because 
of his moves against Roma rent defaulters in Vsetin, the town 
of which he used to be mayor.  The Greens are also vocal 
proponents of transparency and clean government. They have 
criticized Cunek in the past, but have been silent since the 
vote in the Senate. For its part, ODS campaigned last year on 
a promise to fight corruption. But ODS had nothing about the 
Cunek case on its website on February 9, though it dominated 
the front pages of every national daily. The Christian 
Democrats, on the other hand, featured the Cunek case in 11 
of the 16 pieces on its website, including one in which Cunek 
argues that he is not being distracted by the corruption 
charges.  The pieces defending Cunek are authored by Cunek 
himself. None of the other party leaders are standing up for 
him. 
 
HIS PROSPECTS 
 
6. (SBU) Until he won a convincing victory in the October, 
2006, Senate elections, Cunek was an obscure small-town 
mayor. He only became Chairman of the Christian Democrats in 
December 2006, and only became a member of the government in 
January, 2007. He is not yet a significant force in national 
politics and, though technically the number two person in the 
government, not an indispensable part of the ODS-led 
coalition. Neither his coalition partners nor the leaders of 
his own party are rallying to his defense. Foreign Minister 
Schwarzenberg, who changed his earlier stance and voted to 
 
PRAGUE 00000122  002 OF 002 
 
 
let Cunek keep his immunity, explained that he did so because 
he has no faith in the nation's police or courts, but said 
nothing about Cunek's innocence. PM Topolanek issued a 
statement after the Senate vote saying he would not call on 
Cunek to resign, but otherwise offered little firm support. 
 
7. (SBU) Comment:  Many politicians and political analysts 
are saying that Cunek's political career, at least for the 
time being, is finished. Regardless of the results of an 
eventual court case, he has done a clumsy job of explaining 
himself.  If ODS is to have any credibility as an opponent of 
corruption, it will eventually have to take a stand on the 
case. If Cunek does eventually step down, it will have 
relatively little impact on the coalition.  In fact, it could 
prompt a reshuffle that would help Topolanek satisfy critics 
within his own party. The larger impact will be on the 
on-going decline of the Christian Democrats who are now 
polling in 5th place and are just barely above the 5% 
threshold for entry into parliament. 
GRABER