I was overjoyed to read that the Russian prosecutor has launched a criminal investigation of former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov for transferring government properties worth $40 million to himself at bargain prices. I hope that Mr. Kasyanov goes to jail for a long time, and I hope that the Latvian prosecutor and future Latvian politicians take note of this.
It is disgusting to me that in supposedly capitalist Russia and Latvia, many of the wealthiest people are not businessmen who made money by competitively providing goods and services to consumers, but rather are government cronies who got rich by transferring government assets to themselves at below-market prices.
When a politician is elected and takes an oath of office, he becomes legally obligated to do honest work for his country in exchange for an honest salary. If a politician instead focuses his energy on privatizing state assets to himself at bargain prices, as many well-known Latvian and Russian politicians have, then he should be prosecuted and imprisoned. The Russian government has come to this realization and the Latvian government should be quick to follow.
