The allegation that Karel Srba, a senior foreign-ministry official, had hired a hitman to murder a journalist was certainly shocking.

ECONOMIST: A Czech scandal

True, Sabina Slonkova (who, in the event, was unharmed) had been digging up dirt for the daily Mlada fronta Dnes on deals Mr Srba had helped to cut.

ECONOMIST: A Czech scandal

Mr Srba will have to explain how he came by the wads of cash found by the police and how he renovated two farms outside Prague on his paltry state salary.

ECONOMIST: A Czech scandal

The police are now looking into Mr Srba's possible influence on tenders and property deals, particularly one concerning a building in Moscow owned by the Czech state which had been rented out at a suspiciously low rate.

ECONOMIST: A Czech scandal

Mr Srba was certainly no ordinary bureaucrat.

ECONOMIST: A Czech scandal