Final Word from Thursday, August 16, 2012
The mystery about why Vladimír Lich was removed yesterday
from the board of DP Praha transit company was dispelled the
moment Chair Jiří Nouza of the sup. board told Czech TV that it
was a matter of expiring insurance contracts. It was such a
blatant fabrication - on the order of the budget reasons given by
Petr Nečas for sacking Jiří Pospíšil - that it immediately became
clear that Lich was axed because he dared to file criminal
complaints regarding overpriced contracts. Mayor Bohuslav
Svoboda had indicated earlier this year that he would let sleeping
dogs lie, so it's good news that he and Lich decided to act.
However, it might be premature to place them alongside Pospíšil
on the optimists' very short list of anti-corruption crusaders.
Let's wait to see if one of the criminal complaints they filed was
against DPP's supplier of trains and trams. Everything else, even
the Opencard, is peanuts in comparison.[Czech Republic Škoda Transportation Holding metro rolling
stock]
Glossary of difficult words
peanuts - a very small amount of money;
filthy lucre - money, esp. gained in a dishonest or dishonorable way;
to dispel - to make a doubt, fear or other sentiment disappear;
to expire - to no longer be valid, typically after a fixed period of time;
blatant - very obvious;
fabrication - invention, fiction, lie;
to ax/axe someone - to fire someone;
to let sleeping dogs lie - to leave things as they are, instead of interfering.