Eduard Janota speaks out after his dismissal

Former deputy minister of finance, Eduard Janota, who was dismissed on Friday, says that the Czech Republic's debt does not reach 1.3 trillion crowns, as was stated in recent newspaper ads taken out by the Ministry of Finance. Speaking on Sunday's TV program Otazky Vaclava Moravce, Mr. Janota says that these figures were complied by advisors of Finance Minister Vlastimil Tlusty. The reasons for Mr. Janota's dismissal remain unclear, though commentators speculate that he is taking the fall for the ministry's unpopular strategy of ads paid for using taxpayers money. Mr. Janota (54), a non-partisan employee of the Ministry of Finance, has worked under nine different ministers in the post-1989 era. Since 1992 he has served as director of the division responsible for the state budget.