Former Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec, suspected of white-collar crime connected with the Podravka food company, will be remanded in the investigative custody, as a trial chamber of the Zagreb County Court quashed the appeal filed by his lawyer.
An appeal by the USKOK (Office for the Suppression of the Corruption and Organised Crime) against the release of lawyer Zoran Markovic, also implicated in the Podravka scandal, was overruled.
Polancec will be remanded in custody because of a risk of tampering with witnesses.
He is the highest former state official to be sent behind the bars so far. In the Remetinec prison in Zagreb he joined Zdravko Sestak, Podravka's former CEO. Sestak has been in custody for more than five months. The other suspects in the case have been in the meantime released.
The police suspect Markovic of having incited Sestak to abuse his office while concluding agreements.
Since USKOK's investigation is secret, it has still not been officially stated what Polancec and Markovic are charged with and the amount of the financial damage allegedly caused to Podravka. The media speculate the amount is HRK 75 million.
