Bárta and Škárka could lose committee seats

Convicted MPs Vít Bárta and Jaroslav Škárka could lose their seats on their parliamentary committees. Lower house chairwoman Miroslava Němcová reminded Czech Television on Sunday that the independent deputies, formerly of the Public Affairs party, had refused to give up their mandates as MPs and that the only thing the chamber could do would be to remove them from their functions. Mr Bárta, the de facto head of Public Affairs, was given probation for bribery in March, while his former colleague Škárka was sentenced to three years’ for perjury. Bárta is a member of the budgetary and organisational committees; Škárka is the deputy chair of the inspections and petitioning and budgeting committees.