Friday News Briefing

NEWS  

EDUCATION The European Union has halted around 1.2 billion Kč in structural funds to the Education Ministry, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported Jan. 27. The ministry has been facing a loss of up to 53 billion Kč in funding after EU auditors discovered inconsistencies in the ministry's administration of public tenders for EU-funded projects.  

FRAUD The Ostrava Regional Court sentenced Petr Wolf, a former Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) MP, to five-year imprisonment Jan. 27 for abusing state environmental subsidies, ČTK reported. Wolf has also been fined 1.2 million Kč for misusing millions in Environment Ministry funding for opaque research projects. Wolf defected from the ČSSD to join the pro-government voting bloc in Parliament under Mirek Topolánek's Civic Democratic Party (ODS)-led government in 2008.  

HACKED The government's official website collapsed for five hours Jan. 26 following a cyber attack by hackers from the group Anonymous, ČTK reported. Officials speculated the attacks may have been in connection with an international Anonymous campaign against the Anti-Counterfeiting Privacy Act, an international anti-piracy agreement that the Czech Republic signed in Tokyo Jan. 26, along with 21 other countries.  

BUSINESS  

UNIPETROL The board of directors of petrochemical company Unipetrol estimates the group will have an operating loss in earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the last quarter of 2011, and that it will be a worse figure than in the third quarter, when there was a 230 million Kč loss, the company said in a press release Jan. 26. According to the company's estimates, the development of exchange rates will have a negative impact worth around 380 million Kč on EBIT in the last quarter.  

ORCO The developer that owns the headquarters of power utility ČEZ in Prague has put up nearly the whole of its company as collateral on a loan from French bank Credit Agricole, Orco spokeswoman Petra Zdenkova told ČTK Jan. 26. The collateral is worth 121 million euros. Orco has grappled with high debts in recent years, because of which the company was under court protection from creditors for more than a year.    

FARMLAND Agrarian Chamber President Jan Veleba has criticized the EU plan to stop farming on 7 percent of current farm land, saying the decision is a gift to the green lobby, daily Hospodářské noviny reported Jan. 27. He also warned the move could open the door for more food products from the United States to enter European markets.

WEATHER

Prague, Czech Republic; High: 0 C, Low: -6 C  

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news@praguepost.com