Constitutional Court rejects complaint in Cunek corruption case

The Constitutional Court has rejected a complaint by a central figure in a case involving corruption charges against the deputy prime minister Jiri Cunek. Mr Cunek's former secretary Marcela Urbanova had been a key witness behind allegations that Mr Cunek had taken a bribe of half a million crowns or roughly 25,000 US dollars when he was mayor of the Moravian town of Vsetin five years ago. The charges were eventually dropped shortly after the original state prosecutor had been replaced - a move which gave rise to allegations of political interference in the case. The court dismissed Ms Urbanova's motion for procedural reasons, including the fact that she was simply a witness and not a participant in the proceedings and was therefore not entitled to lodge a complaint.