Above we have defined the individual godfathers, their regions and also other characters. Together they formed a kind of ecosystem in which they and their pimped-out politicians exercised the alternative power structure of the time. However, the godfather system of government was not without various conflicts, irregularities or “competence disputes” over influence over this or that office, politician or money pipeline. For this reason, there was a permanent redefinition of spheres of influence.
In practice, we can imagine the situation of a rudder change with an example. So:
Godfather A needs liquidity for a new big deal, because after the regional elections, the politician he controls became a health councillor.
With the arrival of his man at County Hall, the possibility of supplying cleaning work to all the county’s medical buildings opens up, which could saturate Godfather A’s needs for ten years to come, so this deal is a priority. However, by then Godfather A had influence over a particular transport construction project and controlled the winner of a “transparent” tender because an official or politician controlled by him had previously tailored the tender documents to the needs of Godfather A’s company so that only it could win.
Godfather A therefore went to a friendly godfather B with an offer to hand over the transport business to him in exchange for a certain amount of money. Godfather B agrees and hands over to Godfather A the ownership interest in the company on Palm Island, where he had previously pocketed the commission from an earlier transaction. In return, Godfather A hands over to Godfather A an ownership interest in the company which is the parent company of the contractor of the transport project.
As a result, godfather A got rid of the less profitable activity of the transport construction, received godfather B’s former income as a quid pro quo, godfather B can continue to perform the public transport contract and godfather A has enough liquidity for a new cleaning business in the regional hospitals.
Needless to say, no one will know anything because all the transactions will take place in an air-conditioned law office on a tropical Palm Island.
However, there were so many transactions where the state, the region, their controlled contributory organizations, semi-state molochs were robbed and European programs were abused so that billions of money flowed to the godfathers and their controlled companies for zero performance that it was good to organize an event from time to time where dozens of things could be agreed upon at the same time. All the godfathers, power brokers, or politicians and officials who could be told the outcome of the negotiations in an expeditious manner were invited to this omnipotent gathering, and they could quickly start implementing these projects.
What did it look like? At the beginning of 2010, for example, Patrik Tkáč, financier and founder of J&T, organised a horse polo tournament in the snow at a frozen ball. According to available information, he poured around 30 million crowns into the entertainment of the snowiest nature. The reward, however, was the prestige of the event, as business leaders such as Radovan Vitek, Luděk Sekyra and Dušan Palcr came to the gathering. Martin Dvořák, the head of the Prague transport company, accepted the invitation on behalf of the public sector, while people such as Marek Dalík, Roman Janoušek, Jan Kočka and Vladimír Johanes attended the event on behalf of lobbyists and the criminal elements intertwined with them.
The most famous secret meeting, however, took place in the summer of 2009 in the Tuscan resort of Monte Argentario. It broke, however, thanks to a clever media photographer and subsequently thanks to former intelligence chief Karel Randak, who leaked the photos to the media.
According to the pictures mentioned above, two groups of moochers were vacationing in a small harbour. Among the politicians who went to Italy at that time were Prime Minister and ODS chairman Mirek Topolánek, Transport Minister Aleš Rebicek, Justice Minister Jiří Pospisil and ČSSD deputy chairman Milan Urban. The state sector was represented by Martin Roman, Director General of the energy company ČEZ, and Jiří Hodač, Deputy Minister of Transport. The head of Spolchemie and the CEO of Setuza Martin Procházka came to improve business.
To make sure that some business doesn’t get burned without them, Marek Dalík and Roman Jurečko came to look after Topolánek and Pospíšil. The lobby group was complemented by Vladimír Johanes, from whom, according to informed sources, Marek Dalík learned his trade. We must not forget Martin Nejedlý, a former close associate of former President Zeman, who came to breathe the sea air at the villa of Aleš Řebíček.
There are countless question marks as to what kind of “business” was baked there at that time. The Tuscany meeting took place immediately after the passage of the pro-lobby law on emission allowances. The law provides the semi-state company CEZ with free greenhouse gas emission permits worth tens of billions of crowns. The ownership of some of the villas is also unclear, raising suspicions that they were financed by various bribes. In any case, it is clear from the list of people mentioned above who was able to help with the deals at the time and who the politicians were listening to.
