Nečas “jobs for the boys” trial gets underway

A trial centred on the alleged offering of bribes to politicians begins at the Prague 1 district court on Thursday. Petr Nečas, his now wife and former senior assistant Jana Nečasová and ex-deputy agriculture minister Roman Boček are accused of offering “jobs for the boys” to three then Civic Democrat MPs in exchange for their support of legislation in 2012, when Mr. Nečas was party leader and prime minister. The case helped lead to the fall of Mr. Nečas’s government the following year. Civic Democrats Marek Šnajdr, Ivan Fuksa and Petr Tluchoř resigned as MPs shortly after opposing their party on a crucial vote, allowing the government to survive. Two of them received lucrative posts at state companies soon afterwards.