Final Word from Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Need to strike a deal with Stanislav Gross but don't know how it's done? Týden magazine gave some clues. Gross's adviser for IT, Miroslav Forman, also happens to work for EMC Group PR agency. The magazine said this week that until recently, Forman officially owned the agency. EMC is now part-owned by people around AutoCont computers, and EMC lists Infinity systems integrators, Microsoft and Sony on its website as some of its clients. Through Forman, Týden claimed, Gross's army controls the lucrative field of telecoms and IT. Týden cited an unnamed lobbyist as saying that when a high-ranking politician (Gross?) goes to a meeting with a high-ranking businessman, the businessman gets a recommendation to use a certain PR agency. The agency, once hired, then charges a higher-than-usual fee of perhaps three times the going rate. Where the extra money ends up going is hard to track, the lobbyist said. public relations