WorldCom ignored
International newspapers reported the arrest of two
WorldCom executives on their front pages on Fri. Of the
CR's major papers, only Právo put the story on its cover.
Hospodářské noviny stuck the item on Page 18. It and
the other papers apparently thought their readers
wouldn't be very interested. For left-leaning Právo, the
story can serve as an example of the failure of U.S.-
style capitalism, but for most Czech readers white-collar
crime is a broken record. Much has been said about it,
but little has been done. It's almost as if some of the
CR's biggest corporate crooks - we won't mention
names - were given an unofficial amnesty in exchange
for quietly going away or at least legitimizing their dirty
deals after-the-fact. Jaroslav Plesl of Lidové noviny
summed it up: If WorldCom were in the CR, its two
executives wouldn't go to prison for long.
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