As promised, here is the reply from the Czech lobbyists' association to my questions about the disclosure of members' interests.



A lobbyist and her mount


"APAA has no intention of answering your questions...You are a competitor."

To remind you, I asked the chairman of the association to elaborate on the disclosure requirements imposed on members. Specifically, I asked if APAA keeps a record of its members’ beneficial owners, employees, paid advisers and clients.

The chairman’s reply, that such information is not shared with competitors, is beside the point. I asked a professional body claiming to promote transparent lobbying if it kept a credible register of members’ interests; I did not ask it to disclose the contents of that register to me or to you.

The real answer is, of course, that APAA does not keep a record of such things. The conditions of becoming a member of the association are as follows: a member must have been in the lobbying business for 18 months; it must have three or more consultants (they could all be external), two of whom must have worked for two years as a lobbyist; and lastly, a member must have at least two clients who are also willing to write a reference for it as part of the application for membership.

And that’s it. The rest is hot air.

It is all very well for APAA to claim to seek transparency in the Czech lobbying industry and to guarantee the professionalism of its members and their employees. But such claims are empty (and misleading) unless it obliges its members to disclose where the money is coming from and where it is going.

The fact that you and I will never know if only three of APAA's six member companies or their beneficial owners are on the payroll of the CEZ Group (Euroffice, Merit Government Relations and PAN Solutions) is beside the point. What matters is that the ruling body of the association has no official knowledge either.

The fact that you and I will never know if the lawyer Radek Pokorny is in fact an owner of Merit Government Relations, which works for CEZ, is beside the point. What matters is that the ruling body of the association has no official knowledge either.

The fact that you and I will never know if the former supervisory board chairman of CEZ, Martin Kocourek, is a paid adviser to Merit Government Relations, which works for CEZ and is said to be owned by Radek Pokorny, is beside the point. What matters is that the ruling body of an industry association representing itself as a guarantor of the highest ethical standards of its members has no offical knowledge either.

Do you remember the nursery rhyme, 'This is the House that Jack Built'? Here is the last verse, when the relations between all the characters are at last revealed - a state of affairs unlikely to occur at the Czech Association of Public Affairs Agencies.

This is the farmer sowing his corn
That kept the cock that crowed in the morn
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn
That married the man all tattered and torn
That kissed the maiden all forlorn
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn
That tossed the dog that worried the cat
That killed the rat that ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built!