New blood at Skanska

Zdeněk Burda says his departure as general manager of Skanska construction company has been planned for three years, but there's almost certainly more to it than meets the eye. Some people we spoke to speculated that Burda's exit is a delayed reaction to the Kč 450m accounting scandal at Skanska's Třinec unit in 2006. Others said it could be a preemptive measure against a shift in the political forces behind major infrastructure deals. The police - for whatever their reasons - are starting to pay more attention to rigged contracts. Mott MacDonald suggested recently that there's a cartel among the major road builders, which could help explain Skanska's phenomenal success in the CR. The installation of Dan Ťok, a respected manager, to replace Burda gives hope that things will change. But if Ťok wants to reinvigorate the philosophy of "ethics and transparency" that attracted him to Skanska, he might have to kiss good-bye to much of its government work. [Czech Republic highway ŘSD SFDI GM MD]