Czech defence minister to hire law firm to prepare big contract

Czech Defence Minister Karla Slechtova will hire a law firm to draft the documentation for the purchase of combat vehicles worth 53 billion crowns, the biggest state commission, which no ministry could handle without consultation, she said on Wednesday before a cabinet meeting. "I will not risk it. I will want a law office to take care of this," she said, referring to legal disputes that have followed after some previous military contracts. Slechtova, whose post is debated in the current coalition negotiations of ANO with the Social Democrats (CSSD), wants to completely re-equip the infantry. She is planning, along with the recently appointed Chief-of-Staff Ales Opata, to prepare the respective tender still this year and to put it up by the end of 2019.