The Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, appointed two new cabinet ministers after a corruption scandal involving Public Affairs, the junior partner in the Center-Right coalition, surfaced recently, throwing the Czech government coalition scrambling. The move comes ahead of a vote-of-confidence called by left parties scheduled for next Tuesday, which the government is now confident of winning.
Radek Smerda, the former Deputy Transport Minister, will now replace former Transport Minister Vít Bárta (pictured above), who was at the center of the corruption scandal and also the leader of the Public Affairs Party. The Czech Prime Minister, Petr Necas, originally called for the dismissal of all of Public Affair’s ministers who had ties to the security company ABL, which was once owned by Bárta.
For the original story from Euractiv and Reuters, please click here.
The photo of Mr. Bárta comes from CSOB.CZ
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