Let us accuse, but cautiously

The State Supreme Prosecutor's Office has ordered loan fraud charges against four former Komerční banka executives returned for further investigation. If we add at random some interventions by the State Supreme Prosecutor's Office in the case of Jiří Čunek or last year's wiretapping of journalists and children, we have a pressing cause for contemplation. Are the lower level prosecutors so dependent and incapable that the supreme office has to decide for them?

The current activities of and decisions by the state attorney's offices are reason for extensive analysis. Respekt will tackle them in the near future. But for now, let us stay with the case on which the supreme prosecutors have just acted. Accused bankers have a slightly better chance to avoid charges. A CZK 500-million suspicious loan for František Chvalovský, owner of a meat-packing plant, was offered eight years ago. The state attorney has returned the case to the the police for re-investigation and possible new charges. We can expect the legal proceeding to be re-opened in, say, ten years at the current pace of investigations. Sentencing, it the case goes that far, will be clear - maybe cancelled becayse of delays.

And the Kubice case? Before the investigators dig through the documents and re-hear Jan Kubice,Hynek Vlas and Jaroslav Hruška, the mentioned ones will resign from…