Final Word from Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Stanislav Gross went before the Unipetrol commission and declared with puppy-dog eyes that the deal to sell the petrochemical company to PKN Orlen of Poland was one of the most transparent Czech privatizations. His former aide, Zdeněk Doležel, denied that he had sought a Kč 5m bribe to set up a meeting with Gross on the Unipetrol issue. Mirek Topolánek said he had heard it was actually 5m euros, and the rumor has been that a total of E42m in bribes were paid out. The whole matter is now headed for the courts, and Miloš Zeman has hinted that he expects more shocking revelations. Why all the controversy, if no one got paid, as Gross and Doležel claim? One insider supplied us with a possible explanation: No one got paid. For legal reasons, we won't explain the subtlety of this, but suffice it to say that Andrej Babiš of Agrofert might not have upheld his end of the deal. [Czech Republic corruption bribery]