The Czech penal code, in Para. 175a, allows for a defendant to enter into plea bargaining with the state prosecutor for a lighter sentence but stipulates that the defendant shall tell the truth when admitting guilt. Can anyone truly believe that ex-Board Member Matej Augustín of DP Praha transit company, who is cooperating with the police in the Dosimeter case, earned only Kč 1.2-1.3m from rigged contracts, as he testified in court? Would a person with compensation of hundreds of thousands of crowns per month risk a long prison term for a measly million? Plea agreements are the new sensation in Czech criminal law, and especially in cases that seem to have influential people at the top of the pyramid. In the Stoka/sewer corruption case now before Brno Regional Court, one of those at the top is allegedly MP Jaroslav Faltýnek of ANO. In the Dosimeter case, the list of possible high-level co-conspirators is too long to name. As the number of such political cases multiplies, it's going to become increasingly difficult for prosecutors to dispel the suspicion that the real purpose of plea deals is to protect people who never become defendants.