Defence minister takes bribery affair as personal failing

The defence minister, Karel Kuhnl, has described a case of corruption uncovered at his ministry as a personal failing. Mr Kuhnl's spokesperson told Czech Radio the minister would not neglect to take responsibility in the case, in which the director of the Defence Ministry's infrastructure division, Miroslav Bena, was arrested after being caught last week allegedly accepting a bribe of one million Czech crowns (over 40,000 US dollars). It is the biggest bribery scandal involving the ministry in some years.