Minister of Agriculture Petr Gandalovic of Czech Republic

Agriculture Minister Petr Gandalovic is the man behind the scheme.

In the long term, Gandalovic said he believed a strategic investor should be brought in to run the country's third biggest brewer.

PRAGUE (Thomson Financial) - Czech state-owned forestry group Lesy CR could be put up for sale, agriculture minister Petr Gandalovic said in an interview with daily Hospodarske Noviny.

Gandalovic said the state would first have to resolve restitution claims and change forestry legislation before any sale of Lesy CR, which controls 60 pct of the country's forests and has assets of around 70 bln crowns.

Gandalovic is viewed by many as a key proponent of the project.

Gandalovic said he expected that transition to start "roughly in September 2008," and that an actual sale was far from imminent.

The farm has been sealed off and the flock is being liquidated," Farm Minister Petr Gandalovic said in a statement.

Everything is, of course, connected with the solving of the trademark dispute," Gandalovic said in remarks sent to The Associated Press.