AlHijjah 8, 1432, Nov 4, 2011, SPA -- The lower house of the Czech parliament passed a procurement law on Friday aimed at reducing the scope for corruption, a major political issue in the central European country, Reuters reported. It approved a bill lowering the thresholds for tenders for any procurement deals by central and local government bodies, and ordering the publication of owners of companies in tenders, and their suppliers. Graft scandals and conflicts of interest, very few of them investigated or brought to court, have shaken the central European country's political scene in recent years and were a major topic in the general election campaign last year. Financier Karel Janecek, who set up a foundation offering grants to whistle-blowers, has estimated that corruption costs the country 100 billion crowns ($5.5 billion) each year, some 2.7 percent of gross domestic product. David Ondracka, head of the Czech chapter of anti-graft lobby group Transparency International, said the law went in the right direction but only time would show if it was effective. The Czech Republic ranks 21st among the EU's 27 countries on Transparency's corruption index measuring how people regard the extent of graft in their own country. Analysts say a weak police force and judiciary, which have not grown into strong, independent institutions since the end of Communist rule in 1989, are to blame for widespread sleaze. The Czech secret service said in its annual report this year it had identified cases of asset-stripping by state representatives in state firms and institutions, and rigged tenders. Czech media have been filled with cases of alleged kickbacks among senior politicians and business people, including alleged corruption in army procurement deals worth billions of dollars. Parliamentary deputy Lenka Andrysova from the junior party in the centre-right ruling coalition, the Public Affairs, said the amendment would force tender participants to reveal their owners. Public tenders have often been awarded to firms with anonymous owners and suspected links to politicians. But she said the ultimate beneficial owners, often hidden behind a string of companies, could remain obscured, a fault she said should be fixed via a legal amendment. -- SPA
