Final Word from Monday, August 3, 2009
If we're to believe today's Czech press, young Marek Dalík owns a €4m villa in an Italian resort town and treated ex-Premier Mirek Topolánek to a three-week vacation in it. Not-quite-so-young ex-Transport Minister Aleš Řebíček owns a €5m villa close by. Executive Director Michal Hala of the ŘSD highway dept. doesn't have a villa, as far as we know, but he had Kč 600,000 to blow on a 30th-birthday party. He failed to learn from the experience of fortysomething Prague Mayor Pavel Bém, who got into trouble for throwing a million-crown birthday bash last year. Most of such money scandals in the CR involve public officials in their thirties and forties. Very few of the old guard of post-revolutionary politicians have been nabbed, because their generation knew how to save for retirement. It's the young generation that wants instant gratification. What good is (bribe) money if you can't spend it, right?[Czech Republic Ředitelství silnic a dálnic ODS bribery corruption]
Glossary of difficult words
The young and the restless - a U.S. soap opera about feuding families;
Marek Dalík - a close friend of Mirek Topolánek's;
to blow (money) - to spend recklessly;
fortysomething - someone in his forties;
bash - a party or social event;
to nab - to catch someone doing something wrong;
instant gratification - immediate satisfaction or fulfillment.