Final Word from Tuesday, February 28, 2006
A castle is supposed to be safe from intrusion or invasion, but Václav Klaus's fourth year at Prague Castle begins today in what might be called a simmering state of siege. A series of wiretap snippets leaked to Czech Television have indirectly incriminated people close to Klaus in one of the biggest scandals in recent years, the Berka bankruptcy-fraud ring. Some of those in Klaus's inner circle, including Jiří Weigl, Milan Velek and Karel Muzikář Jr., have been mentioned. Nothing has been very concrete, and the reports have mostly been forgotten already, but a message has been sent to Klaus: Behave yourself before and after the June elections, or this might turn into another "Swiss villa." Even though Klaus was shown later to be innocent of owning any Swiss villa, it led to the fall of his cabinet and to a period of disgrace. He probably couldn't survive a second round. [Czech Republic TV Nova Vladimír Železný Jiří Berka Vladislav Větrovec Jan Šváček Milan Kindl telephone eavesdropping spying]