Key witness in Cunek case to be charged

The key witness in the corruption investigation involving the deputy prime minister Jiri Cunek, his former secretary Marcela Urbanova, is to be charged with giving false testimony. Petr Coufal, the head of an inspection team from the Brno State Attorney's Office who reviewed the case said on Czech Television on Sunday that he was convinced that Urbanova had lied in order to damage the deputy prime minister. Jihlava state attorney Arif Salichov halted the case last week on the grounds of lack of evidence and dubious witnesses. Coufal said that he was convinced that Salichov had made the right decision, adding that if Urbanova was telling the truth then fifteen other witnesses, one of them an Evangelical priest, were lying. The Jihlava state attorney himself allegedly received a death threat, warning him not to halt the investigation.