Bakala's year
The lower house of the Czech Parliament will probably consent early next year to filing a criminal complaint against Zdeněk Bakala, but the absentee billionaire is going out of 2019 in real style. His former residential housing company, Residomo, is on the block, which will remove him by another layer from the OKD privatization "crime" that interests MPs but not the police or the state prosecutors. His publishing house, Economia, dealt a big blow this month to fellow oligarch Petr Kellner by serving up an unexplained leak of damning documents from the dominion of a man who suffers no leaks. And most of all, Bakala added Czech Radio to the media that he and his kindred spirits on the "right side of history" thoroughly dominate with their special brand of morality. Both Kellner and Andrej Babiš finish 2019 with more absolute influence and power than Bakala, but Bakala has even more-powerful friends to the west who would like to see his winning streak continue.
Glossary of difficult words
to consent - to agree to do something;
absentee - not present but expected to be;
on the block - for sale;
dominion - the territory of a sovereign or government;
to suffer - to experience or be subjected to (something bad or unpleasant); to tolerate;
kindred spirit - a person whose interests or attitudes are similar to one's own;
streak - a continuous period of specified success, luck or failure.