Indebted town's former mayor charged with fraud

The former mayor of the heavily indebted town Chlumec in the north-west of the country, has been charged withfraud, abuse of power and other crimes related to the town's debt.Prosecutors said that Mr Hanusch, who served as the town's mayor between the early 1990s and 2009, oversaw a series of overpriced contracts which brought the town to insolvency; as a result, Chlumec lost some of its property including the town hall building. The damages caused by the former mayor are estimated at nearly 22 million crowns.