Final Word from Monday, January 26, 2004
A survey last year by the Prague Tribune found that foreigners don't agree on what role ex-spies should play in business. Chair Ron van Oijen of ING CR/SR said he would ask a manager to leave if his name appeared on a list of ex-StB agents, because it could hurt the company's image. CEO Alexis Juan of KB said he considers it an issue for the Czech people. The issue exploded on Hewlett-Packard yesterday, when Czech TV reported that HP's local MD, Pavel Kalášek, collaborated with the StB but was one of thousands of people whose StB file was shredded in 1989. It's long been assumed that many of the CR's top managers were StB agents. By admitting that the names of the best and brightest haven't yet been revealed, the interior ministry is forcing companies to get prepared for the possibility that their logo will be the next one smeared across the TV screen. Television Komerční banka