Former Minister sentenced to five years in jail

Vladimir Mlynar, the former IT minister has been sentenced by Prague City Court to five and a half years in jail for abusing his position as a public official and misusing state funds. The former Freedom Union minister was found guilty of using Testcom, an Internet portal company subsidized and supervised by the state, to fund a private company of a similar name. In October 2003, he earmarked 7.5 million CZK (approx. 345,000 USD) from Testcom's budget for this purpose. Mr Mlynar has appealed the decision.

Author: Coilin O'Connor