Final Word from Tuesday, December 4, 2007
All the current activity - books, documentaries, debates - surrounding the 10th anniversary of the "Sarajevo assassination" that swept Václav Klaus from power in 1997 seems almost like another conspiracy. Many of Klaus's political and journalistic opponents have used the anniversary to return to the slightly forgotten topics of coupon privatization, tunneling and police indifference. Ivan Pilip, one of the Sarajevo hit men, told TV Prima that he is absolutely certain that the ODS foreign bank account that set the whole thing in motion truly existed. (A Deloitte forensic audit at the time didn't confirm this.) Pilip's remark was met with a wall of silence from ODS. The main media didn't pay much attention to him either, and Klaus the candidate hasn't suffered any damage from this or any of the other recent blows. If Klaus is to be assassinated again, fresher ammunition than this will have to be found.[Czech Republic & Touche corruption Tomáš Ježek Jan Švejnar Jiří Paroubek Erik Tabery Jan Ruml]