Czech PM chooses Martin Kuba for new industry minister

He said Prime Minister Petr Necas will propose Kuba to President Vaclav Klaus who is to appoint him on Wednesday morning.

Kuba will replace Martin Kocourek (ODS) who resigned over a scandal involving a suspicious transfer of money to his mother´s account last week.

Necas chose Kuba, first deputy mayor of South Bohemia governor, whose name appeared already when a successor to agriculture minister Ivan Fuksa was sought in October.

Kuba is an influential ODS politician. He sought the post of party deputy chairman last year.

Necas, however, criticised him for having helped form a grand coalition with the Social Democrats (CSSD) in the South Bohemia Region that is headed by Jiri Zimola (CSSD).

Kuba has been in charge of regional development, drawing money from EU funds, territorial zoning and transport investment as deputy mayor.

Kocourek decided to resign after a meeting with Necas last Wednesday. He, however, dismissed the 16 million crowns in the account of his mother have their origin in corrutpion.

Kocourek said the money was his and that he entrusted it to Key Investments in order to hide it from his wife when they were getting divorced in 2008.

Politicians of the centre-right government coalition and some of Kocourek´s party colleagues said Kocourek did not manage the explanation of the money´s origin and demanded that he resign.

($1=18.845 crowns)

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz