Final Word from Thursday, September 23, 2010
As we noted in "Begging to be sued," CEO Martin Roman of ČEZ doesn't take legal action against those who accuse him of being on both sides of the table in billions of crowns in deals at ČEZ and Czech Railways involving Škoda/Appian, presumably because he knows he would lose. But he does seem to be implementing a belated exit strategy. Most notably, he (or Appian) sold Škoda Power to Doosan in late 2009. ČEZ's management board then supported a statute change in June that gives the ČEZ supervisory board the authority to approve big deals, such as Temelín. This can help shift any blame for malfeasance in choosing suppliers. Appian then sold Škoda Transportation this week to a group of managers. Appian's component parts will presumably continue to receive sweet deals from ČEZ, Czech Railways and DP Praha, but Roman will be one more step removed from the incriminating activity.[Czech Republic Holding České dráhy Dopravní podnik]
Glossary of difficult words
belated - coming or happening later than should have been the case;
statute - a rule of an organization or institution;
malfeasance - wrongdoing, esp. by a public official;
removed - distant from;
incriminating - serving to implicate or involve in a crime.