Final Word from Friday, January 23, 2004
It's quite simple for the beneficial owner of a Czech company to remain anonymous. A publicity-shy person can use an offshore vehicle with bearer shares to own a Czech s.r.o. or a.s. The real owner is never known. What's harder, though, is for the statutory representative of a Czech company to keep his home address to himself. His boss can remain blissfully anonymous, but his own permanent address must be listed in the commercial registry (www.justice.cz), for everyone to see. HN suggested that this is how unknown assailants found Editor-in-chief Tomáš Němeček of Respekt (R-Presse), who was savagely beaten in front of his home last week. It's curious: The data-protection office guards against the most mundane uses of personal information, but a prominent CEO worried about his safety or that of his family gets thrown to the wolves.Hospodářské noviny