No more Mr Clean

摘要

Alleged corruption, a love affair and the abuse of secret services have combined to end the political career of Petr Ne-cas, the Czech prime minister. He was once dubbed "Mr Clean" because of his vows to combat corruption. The Civic Democrat-led coalition now hopes to cling to power under a new leader, rather than being forced into an early election. On June 17th Mr Necas quit as prime minister, gave up the leadership of the Civic Democrats and said he would not run in a future election after Jana Nagyova, his chief of staff (and allegedly also his mistress), was charged in two criminal probes. Ms Nagyova is accused of asking military intelligence to snoop on three civilians, including the prime minister's estranged wife. She is also charged with bribing three Civic Democrat deputies to back the government by giving them posts in state-controlled firms. A court has decided to keep her in custody pending trial.