Cut the Krúpa
Anyone who follows Czech business must know by now about Pavol Krúpa. He's a second- or third-tier oligarch who shot to notoriety in late-2007 by helping ex-PM Stanislav Gross clear a cool Kč 75m on a dubious deal involving 31% of Moravia Energo. True to form, Krúpa boasted at the time that he was going to buy 100% of the company, but of course it didn't work out that way. He quietly sold the 31% of Moravia Energo to fellow Slovak Tomáš Chrenek. This same pattern is playing out now with regard to OKD. For more than a year, Krúpa has been "buying 5%" of NWR and now wants to acquire, you guessed it, 100%. Krúpa's return on investment for this little PR stunt must be phenomenal, and it's about time financial journalists stopped playing along. Yes, we realize we're violating our own advice by writing about this, but someone must pose the question: What is it that makes Czechs so willing to believe Slovaks telling tall tales?
Glossary of difficult words
cut the Krúpa - a word play on the expression, "cut the crap," which is a rude way of telling someone to stop saying things that are not true or not important;true to form - following the usual pattern;
stunt - something unusual done to attract attention;
tall tale/story - an exaggerated, unreliable story; a story or statement that is difficult to believe because it is too exciting or interesting.