In 1979, as an executive committee member of the Czechoslovak Socialist Party, one of the puppet parties of the Communist regime, he attracted the attention of the communist state secret police (StB). He met agents three times in meetings where he allegedly expressed loyalty to the communist government and disagreement with opposition groups such as Charter 77. He was assigned the code name "Roko", after his pet parakeet, but never actually signed a cooperation agreement with the secret police, and after 1982 the cooperation ceased, as Paroubek "did not have enough potential and contacts".