Final Word from Friday, January 13, 2006
Some readers tell us we're too cynical, but even more frequent are the remarks about how naive we are. One reader said we forgot to deduct from the Kč 1bn in stock options the amount for the politicians who put the managers in place and approved the options. Two readers said with regard to the Unipetrol commission that getting a cut of the action is nothing new to the Communists, because they've been in on every deal so far. Regarding the Setuza arrest warrant, one reader said all the major political parties have their judges in the court system. We overheard one judge say that if he doesn't bring home Kč 150,000 in a given week, it wasn't worth a damn. Over at the Land Registry, we heard that enterprising clerks had to standardize the bribe at Kč 8,000, because there was too much price-undercutting. Of course these are only rumors, and we're pretty sure they're not true. [Czech Republic ČEZ corruption Tomáš Pitr Český olej naivite]