Agriculture Minister 'given one week' to make structural, personnel changes at Land Fund

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has reportedly given Agriculture Minister Petr Zgarba a one-week deadline to introduce new controls to make the sale of state-owned land more transparent. State officials - including Minister Zgarba, who is also chairman of the Czech Land Fund - are suspected of having sold state property at well below market rates, possibly for personal gain. No charges have been filed, but two Fund employees were been dismissed earlier this week, and Mr Zgarba is to replace his vice chairman. An internal audit at the Land Fund is underway.