COMMENT | Twelve years ago, the New York Times published an article on an enterprising businessperson who started the world’s first-ever “Corrupt Tour” in Prague, which gave visitors the darker side of the city - the culture of lawlessness and corruption.

Dan Bilefsky wrote: “These days, there is more than enough nefarious activity afoot in the Czech capital to fill a three-hour excursion. The first stop on tour was a run-down apartment building in a working-class neighbourhood.”

The guide said Ivo Rittig, a wealthy lobbyist with a private jet and a home in Monaco, had once registered the apartment as his main residence.”

It ended at the city’s outskirts at the large mausoleum for the family of Martin Roman, the former chief executive of the energy giant CEZ, who officials say is suspected of offering lucrative contracts to cronies, an accusation he has vehemently denied.