ZURICH (AFX) - Swiss justice minister Christoph Blocher last night sharpened his criticism of Swisscom AG, saying the former monopoly's management must step down if it sticks to its foreign acquisition plans.

"We don't want a second Swissair. And there Switzerland only had a 6 pct stake and only lost a couple of billions. In this case it would lose 17.2 bln sfr," Blocher, who is from the far right SVP party, said on Swiss TV.

The Swiss government holds 66 pct of Swisscom shares and last week instructed its representative on Swisscom's board to vote against the company's foreign acquisition plans.

According to media reports, Swisscom was in the late stages of takeover negotiations with eircom PLC when it was informed about the government's new stance.

The company said yesterday that it was in talks with the government and that it would announce the outcome next week at the earliest.

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