Final Word from Thursday, March 1, 2007
It's no surprise that Jan Kavan says one thing into a hidden camera and quite another into an open one. It's no surprise that BAE hides behind a law preventing it from defending itself to avoid commenting on allegations in the Gripen bribery scandal. It is surprising, though, that Czech-Canadian businessman Otto Jelinek isn't doing more to clear his name. Swedish TV reported that BAE made payments into offshore accounts he controls. Respekt put the figure at about Kč 200m. Jelinek has offered only general denials. He's one of the most-recognizable faces of foreign business. Any taint on him taints foreign investment in general. He now works for Colliers, where he'll presumably be deeply involved in the Olympic bid. For years, he headed Deloitte. He should hire one of the other Big Four accounting firms to conduct a forensic audit of his offshore accounts and make the results public. [Czech Republic Systems SvT Olympics Games Summer television figher Dubovy Mlyn]