Those in the Czech property community who are concerned at the continuing high levels of political corruption at the local level will be somewhat pleased to learn that a former regional governor will be going to jail. They’ll be less impressed, however, by the fact that it took seven years from the time David Rath was caught by police with CZK 7m in cash stuffed into boxes while driving away from a meeting. It means it took one year for every million he was caught red-handed and that’s not including the tens of millions they found in his home in a subsequent search. Rath was found guilty of conspiring with contractors to influence the outcome of public tenders for reconstruction work in return for bribe payments. Rath claims he thought there was wine in the boxes he was caught with. The Czech economy is strong but there are growing signs that inefficient bureaucracy and over-regulation are harming the chances for growth. Developers watching the Rath case are likely to see the irony of it taking as long to bring a public official to justic as it does to get a planning permit for new housing construction. In fact, the seven years it took for Rath’s appeals process to work through the system is the same amount of time he will spend behind bars.
