Leaks and raids

Although ČEZ said yesterday that it didn't know in advance about the EU antitrust raid on its offices, Euro.cz announced the impending inspection a full 19 hours in advance. Euro even quoted ČEZ in its story, so it's disingenuous of the electric utility to say it was caught by surprise. Euro gave as the source of the leak a "significant energy firm," by which we were probably supposed to understand Czech Coal. But why would an adversary want to give its rival a heads-up about a raid it probably initiated in the first place? The more likely leaker was the Czech antitrust office, which Brussels should also put under the loupe for its intimacy with ČEZ. Leaking the secret and portraying the raid as the desperate reaction of a mean-spirited rival is useful for influencing the debate. If the media chatter centered around the substance of the raid, pressure could quickly rise for ČEZ's top bosses to be removed. [Czech Republic competition monopoly anti-competitive]