Michael Kocáb


Michael Kocáb is a Czech composer, singer, and political activist. He is the leader of Pražský výběr, a popular music band suppressed by the Czechoslovak communist regime in the 1980s. The band is now called Pražský výběr II, as most of the band's members have changed.
In the early 1990s, Kocáb led a parliament commission which negotiated the repatriation of Soviet soldiers from Czechoslovakia.

Business interests

In April 1990, together with Oldřich Lichtenberg and Miloslav Zapletal, Kocáb founded a company called Art Production K, where he served as chairman of the board. In May 1991 he became board member of newly privatized building company Montované stavby Praha. In January 1992 MSP founded Investment privatization fund TREND and Kocáb became chairman of its board. Another board Member was his brother-in-law Martin Kratochvíl. In January 1993, the companies Art Production K, Bonton, MSP, and Bankovní dům SKALA founded a limited liability investment company IC TREND to manage the IPF TRENT portfolio for a fee. In February 1995 the managers of IPF TREND founded a closely owned corporation IC TREND for the same purpose. In August 1995 Kocáb, Kratochvíl and other owners of IC TREND sold the company to broker Královéhradecká brokerská společnost for a substantial amount of money. The new owners of IC TREND used the acquired company as a vehicle to strip dispersed shareholders of IPF TREND from its assets. After a first fraudulent transaction by KBS managers, used to cover the costs associated with purchase of IC TREND, Kocáb and Kratochvíl resigned from the board of IPF TREND.
Kocáb ran unsuccessfully in the 2008 Senate election. In January 2009, he replaced Džamila Stehlíková as the Minister for Human Rights and Minorities.
He is married, and has one son and two daughters.