Final Word from Monday, October 3, 2005
Buried on Page 4 or 6 of the Saturday newspapers was an article about the money the police found at Radovan Krejčíř's luxury home in Prague. It turns out that there was only Kč 9.5m in real, hard cash. Most of the rest was apparently Monopoly money. You might recall that when the police raided Krejčíř's home in June, wild claims were made about a seizure of up to Kč 5bn in Czech and Swiss currency. This made the raid sound super legitimate. Krejčíř's arrest was mysteriously botched, though, and Police President Jiří Kolář - who was loyal to Stanislav Gross - had to resign. It was Premier Jiří Paroubek who showed him the door. It was also Paroubek who has benefited the most from the Unipetrol scandal, which was the last nail in Gross's coffin. Isn't it a strange coincidence that after every major scandal, it's "Bulldozer" Paroubek who's left standing? [Czech Republic francs]