PPF disqualified from ecological supertender

Outgoing Finance Minister Eduard Janota has disqualified the PPF financial group from a controversial ecological tender on cleaning up damage to the environment, a spokesman for the finance ministry said. According to the official, Mr Janota based his decision on the findings of an expert commission questioning the qualifications of the bidder in the so-called “supertender”. It is the second time the Finance Ministry has disqualified the consortium of PPF Advisory, Ecosoil Sud, AVE CZ and Dekonte. Previously the group appealed to the Office for the Protection of Competition, which overturned the decision. PPF may do so again. The ecological supertender - worth an estimated 115 billion crowns – merges hundreds of smaller projects on cleaning up the environment; it has been criticised by both activists and politicians for being potentially open to corruption.