Money derails Spidla too
There are plenty of real and imagined political reasons
for forcing Vladimír Špidla out of office, but there are
financial reasons too. They haven't attracted any media
attention so far. One of them is the privatization of
Český Telecom. The three politicians who have most
gotten in the way of the well-laid privatization plans for
the phone company are Špidla himself, Finance
Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and IT Minister Vladimír
Mlynář. It's no coincidence that they'd be totally shut out
of the decision-making process under some of the
scenarios being considered for the future government.
The plans for Telecom have already been put in
jeopardy because the "wrong" bidder won the tender for
advising on the sale. When it comes time to choose the
privatization committee and to arrange the sale to the
preferred buyer, those calling the shots won't want to
run the same risk again. There's too much money at
stake.
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