Final Word from Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Much of the mainstream media decided long ago that ODS is going to win the next elections and started sucking up to it. But what about the criminal-justice and judicial systems? Have they, too, begun favoring ODS and its friends? Consider the following: Businessman Petr Mach was cleared of loan fraud; the procurement-violation case against Jaroslav Míl and other ex-ČEZ managers was dropped; the police recommended that charges against fund manager Milan Šrejbr be dropped; former ODS manager Olga Heligová was acquitted of embezzling party funds; Sparta soccer club was cleared of game-rigging; and the political-bribery case against Marek Dalík and Jan Večerek was dropped. The people involved in all these cases have been linked to ODS, and all of them were smiled upon recently by police, prosecutors or judges. Surely a coincidence.[Czech Republic corruption bribery football]