Finance Ministry cancels dubious land sale in Prague following news report

The Czech Finance Ministry cancelled on Thursday a public tender for the sale of land in the Prague district of Dejvice, following a news report questioning the deal. The daily Lidový noviny reported on Thursday that the ministry put up a plot of land for sale, declared as green or no-development zone, at the asking price of 1.7 million crowns, or more than 100,000 US dollars. However, the land in question is registered as a building lot in a new urban zoning plan which means its price could be up to 15 times higher. A ministry spokesman said that Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek had not been aware of the planned sale, and immediately ordered the cancellation of the tender.