David Rath, the former Social Democrat health minister and governor of Central Bohemia who turned Czech politics a deep red on the PH scale for his acidic attacks on opponents, claims from prison custody that he is a political victim of a staged crime like former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Former head of the Czech anti-corruption police (ÚOKFK), Petr Vincenz, was in at the start of the long investigation that this week culminated  by reeling in top Social Democrat (ČSSD) politician David Rath and seven other suspects in what appears to be a high-profile graft case. Now out of the force, he talks about the preconditions that helped pave the way for such an outcome and his fears and foreboding for how the special police squad that piloted the probe might end up.

In the first days of this year’s tropical weather, the number of calls to the Czech fire brigade (HZS) tripled. We should see this as a warning. An indication of how necessary this demanding profession is and that it is imperative for this component of the integrated rescue system to be operational. Anybody who has seen them in action knows this – but does the government and the Ministry of Interior?

Czech police have reportedly uncovered Kč 30 million in cash stashed under the floorboards of the home of a prominent Social Democrat (ČSSD) politician who has been arrested on bribery and other charges; Central Bohemian governor David Rath had Kč 7 million in cash on him at the time of the arrest, in a box he claims he thought contained a gift of bottles of wine.