Final Word from Monday, April 4, 2011
Today's cover story in Respekt about the way Vít Bárta allegedlybuys the loyalty of some of VV's MPs, including ChairRadek John, with illegal cash payments is like manna fromheaven for Skanska and Kapsch. These two companies havecome under public attack from Bárta for what he calls overpricedor low-quality work, and they have shown little or nowillingness so far to play ball with him (unlike some othercompanies in a similar situation). Respekt's article about Bárta'salleged bribery indirectly gives credence to the theoriesthat he is either trying to extort money from companies doingbusiness with the transport ministry or that his greater interestis in using such commercial disputes to achieve his goalof a coalition with ČSSD and to ride it to the premiership andthen the presidency. If Bárta can put up "Skanska built here"road signs without providing any hard evidence of wrongdoing,Respekt's article surely provides enough gory detail to allowsomeone to erect a "Bárta bribed here" sign at Parliament.
Glossary of difficult words
manna from heaven - something of value that one receives unexpectedly;
to play ball with someone - to work willingly or to cooperate with someone;
credence - the likelihood of something being true;
to extort - to obtain something by force, threats or other unfair means;
gory details - the explicit details of something.