Final Word from Friday, October 27, 2006
It was a busy week for corruption. Jana Hybášková's claim that ODS asked her for a kickback was all but forgotten; ČSSD lost a seat in Parliament when ODS allegedly accepted a role in a high-stakes Rath-Zeman-Pohanka-Mayo plot to bring down Jiří Paroubek; BIS counter-intelligence reported that the police, courts and state prosecutors sometimes have sticky fingers; and Interior Minister Ivan Langer proposed a blacklist for companies found guilty of bribery. The problem is that few companies will be convicted as long as elements of the justice system have open palms, and in cases where corruption is proven, there'll be doubts about whether it isn't retribution because the wrong palms were greased. Only someone with impeccable credentials and a non-political agenda can be successful in the role of anti-corruption czar. Why, then, did ODS name Ivan Moneybags to the post?[Czech Republic David Rath Miloš Zeman Michal Pohanka Mayo Clinic counterintelligence tsar]