Final Word from Friday, December 19, 2003
In Aug. 1995, when KHB brokerage house started "tunneling" assets out of the Trend investment fund, tunneling wasn't yet a known concept. Not until Miloš Zeman used the term in Sept. 1996 did it gain acceptance. The receiver of the nearly empty Trend fund is accusing founders Martin Kratochvíl and Michael Kocáb of double trouble. Not only did they tunnel the fund, he claims, but they also got more than a fair value when they sold the fund manager to KHB. Court proceedings will likely show that they didn't steal from the fund and that the current campaign against them is contrived. But should they have known KHB planned to tunnel Trend? Should they have refused to sell to the highest bidder? Perhaps, as Euro suggests, they failed the moral test, but to pass it they would have had to foresee events that even today with hindsight are unimaginable. Královohradecká brokerská Bonton