The Zagreb County Court on Monday turned down a request by the Office for the Suppression for Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) to place again in custody former Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec over his alleged tampering with witnesses in a case in which the Koprivnica-based Podravka food company was defrauded of more than HRK 400 million.
"The (court's non-trial) chamber has established that Polancec has not influenced the witnesses or obstructed justice," his lawyer told reporters while leaving the Zagreb County Court.
Both Polancec and his lawyer said that they had expected such a ruling.
The request to detain Polancec again in the Remetinec prison in Zagreb from where he was released last July after spending 115 days behind bars, was forwarded by USKOK over allegations that he had exerted pressure on Podravka management board president Miroslav Vitkovic and the head of the Podravka branch in Turkey, Zdravko Dimac.
According to the media, Polancec told Vitkovic to be careful because he would hire a private detective to follow his every move and that he also told Dimac that he would "get even with him" at the trial.
The two Podravka executives reported threats to the USKOK investigating agency.
Polancec is one of several indictees whom USKOK charges with conspiring to defraud Podravka of more than 400 million kuna. Defence lawyers claim their clients only tried to protect Podravka against "a hostile take-over".
