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In Alan Levy's profile of Dan Arbess (Prague Profile, Jan. 5-11), Arbess is given free rein to indulge in some incredible self-justification of his earlier business dealings with people like Viktor Kozeny. If Mr. Levy is asking us to believe that Arbess, a no-nonsense New York corporate lawyer, agreed to work with Kozeny against his better judgment for a "dream and passion" to inject Western management standards into Czech businesses, then the reaction of any informed reader must be: pull the other one, Alan! Surely Arbess, and for that matter [Michael D.] Dingman, knew full well what they were getting involved with. As a skilled lawyer, he must have practiced "due diligence" for his business partners. For Arbess to suggest that he only had "doubts" about Kozeny is simply disingenuous. Moreover, by accepting Arbess' explanations at face value, Levy clouds the issues and does not help the reader to understand the underlying business between these men. Levy fails to ask central questions -- Why did Arbess' firm get involved with such a dubious character when it could have virtually picked its foreign investor clients? What exactly was Arbess' role in bringing Dingman and Kozeny together? I suspect he introduced Dingman to Kozeny and not the other way around. If Arbess wrote the agreements in such a way as to give Dingman control over Kozeny's shares, why on earth did Dingman then allow the latter to tunnel those companies? Experienced journalists like Levy should not write up their exploits through misty eyes. Marek J. Svoboda Attorney at Law Gide Loyrette Nouel Prague |
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