Very bad timing for ČEZ

The reports of suspected criminal activity in ČEZ's acquisition of an Albanian energy company in 2009 couldn't have come at a worse time. Not only are the Babiš media going to have a field day in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in Oct., but the news started flowing in from Albania almost on the same day that the OECD issued its Monitoring Report regarding the implementation and enforcement of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. No cases of the bribery of foreign public officials have been prosecuted in the CR, the OECD examiners said, and steps need to be taken to more proactively detect foreign bribery, in particular by engaging with stakeholders in the anti-money laundering authorities, accounting and auditing profession, tax profession, and private business. In short, ČEZ will be a test case of whether the CR is serious about its OECD anti-bribery commitments.