The police to question outgoing minister over bribery case

Outgoing Czech Labour and Social Affairs Minister Jaromír Drábek will be questioned by police investigators next Friday in connection with a case against his former first deputy Vladimír Šiška who is accused of bribery. Mr Drábek revealed the development on a TV political debate show Sunday. The minister is resigning over the matter although he reiterated he himself had done nothing wrong but was simply accepting political responsibility. He will officially step down at the end of the month. The chairman of TOP 09, Karel Schwarzenberg, has suggested the corruption case could negatively impact the party in the upcoming regional and Senate elections, but expressed the hope that the minister’s decision to step down would be viewed honourably.