Former intelligence chief cleared of wrongdoing

Former intelligence chief Karel Randák and former office of the government employee Lenka Pikorová were both acquitted by a Prague court on Wednesday of charges connected with bonuses paid to the previous government’s chief-of-staff, Jana Nagyová (now Nečasová). The two had been charged with the unauthorised handling of personal data. According to the indictment, in 2011 Ms Pikorová allegedly gave copies of Nagyová’s pay slips to Mr Randak, a member of the anti-corruption endowment board, to release to the media. The previous government office had declined to release the salaries of its employees despite repeated requests by the media that had been alerted to Nagyová’s unusually high bonuses. Wednesday's decision by the lower-instance court has already been appealed by the state prosecutor.

Ms Nagyová married former prime minister Petr Nečas last month; she is a central figure in a spying and corruption scandal which led to the unexpected fall of his government earlier this year.