Show us the money

Any salesclerk can count a pile of cash and spot a fake bill, but the Czech police can't say how much money they seized from businessman Radovan Krejčíř's house 10 days ago and whether it was real. In interview after interview, Interior Minister František Bublan has waffled, speaking only of the Kč 3bn, or "perhaps" Kč 5bn, that was "saved." (As if there were no real difference between Kč 3bn and Kč 5bn.) We're not alone in wondering whether there was actually any cash of any significance seized. The closest Bublan has come to the apparent truth was his remark on "Kotel" that the raid won't do much to help the state budget. The more he waffles, the more he'll support speculation that the raid was staged - and intentionally botched - by ČSSD either to strip Stanislav Gross of his police influence or to divert attention from the fraud at Čepro, which has ČSSD's name written all over it. [Czech Republic counterfeit TV Nova]