Police detain Central Bohemian governor Rath over bribery charges

Anti-corruption police spokesman Jaroslav Ibehej has told CTK that the office has been conducting a large investigation since Monday. He refused to elaborate. The server iDnes has written that the police were making a search in Rath's office in the regional governor's building in Prague. The server has written that the investigation is connected with European subsidies for a hospital in Kladno, central Bohemia. Regional state attorney Lenka Bradacova has told the server iDnes that the police had detained five men, including one deputy, and three women, in connection with the case. Rath has come under the suspicion of harming the interests of the EU, bribe-giving, bribe-taking and giving an advantage when placing a public order.

For those of you who follow Czech Republic news. I live here, and I remember this hospital being built in Kladno. In fairness, Kladno and the surrounding region needed it, as the existing hospital was pretty old and underequipped. Mr. Rath is trying to say it's a political set-up. Hardly. From what I'm also hearing on the Czech news right now as I write this, Mr. Rath was quite literally caught red-handed with a shoebox containing 7 million Czech crowns, which is about $350,000 U.S. First of all, I've taught members of the Czech police force English, and the cops come from all political stripes and shades, from right to left. Also, a few years ago I had a couple of Czech students, both of them quite left-wing, who swore up and down that Mr. Rath was an utterly corrupt SOB despite his facade. I'm glad to see the cops took this guy down, regardless of his high political position, and in his case his typical legislator's immunity isn't going to help him one iota as he was caught red-handed. On the other hand, thanks to the additional arrest of the Kladno Hospital's director on related charges, the hospital will now be associated with corruption and graft, which is unfortunate, because had it not been for the new facilities, a former student of mine would've very likely died after she was in a horrific auto accident. The accident took place in September of last year in Kladno, and because of the new hospital, she didn't need to be evacuated to Prague at a crucial time where her life hung in the balance; they had her in the new trauma center in less than ten minutes, and she's alive as a result. Still, always satisfying to see a corrupt pol go down. He could get 12 years in the slammer, and if the case is proven, I hope he does.

It’s entirely possible. The President of the Czech Republic’s last name is Klaus. In the western part of the country, there’s a lot of folks with German ancestry. I’m in the east, near the Polish border, so here it’s more folks with Polish ancestry. My ex-wife definitely had German ancestors.

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