Roman Vaškuj, along with his friend Petr Šmírák, is accused of trying to coerce Marcela Urbanová into changing her testimony about Čunek's alleged bribe-taking. Urbanová was Čunek's secretary during his term as the mayor of Vsetín. Čunek was recently re-instated as deputy prime minister and as minister of regional development in the Czech Republic.

Urbanová claims that Vaškuj offered her 750,000 Kč ($47,000) to change her testimony that she saw Čunek accept a 500,000-Kč bribe. She notified the police of the offer, who filmed her meeting with Vaškuj and Šmírák.

Vaškuj, who is accused of perjury and bribery, does not deny offering Urbanová the money, but he claims that he never meant to pay her – that he was merely trying to get her to ask for money so he could discredit her.

Vaškuj could not attend the Monday hearing because he was hospitalized on Sunday on suspicion of a heart attack, but his doctors say he will be able to attend court on Wednesday in Přerov, when the hearing will resume. If he does not, he could go to jail, said Judge Jiří Barbořík.

"The records clearly state that Mr. Vaškuj's state of health is satisfactory," said Barbořík, adding that Vaškuj is required by law to attend the entire hearing – otherwise he faces up to five years in jail.

Oddly, Urbanová herself is not considered to be a damaged party in this case. According to the judge, "only public institutions such as the state can be considered damaged parties in corruption cases."

Urbanová claims that the only reason she was denied the status was to keep her from gaining access to Čunek's file.

Other individuals involved in the Čunek corruption case are also expected in court, including Vsetín Deputy Mayor Jaromír Kudlík, who is accused of providing Čunek with a false alibi, perjury, and falsifying a professional assessment.