Croatian Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic confirmed on Monday that later today Croatia would send to Austria a formal request for the extradition of ex-prime minister Ivo Sanader and all the necessary documents concerning Sanader's case.
"We are in touch with the Austrian Justice Ministry, we are discussing the matter right now and all the necessary documents will be sent today," Bosnjakovic told reporters outside the Croatian parliament before today's sitting.
Asked which documents he was referring to, the minister said Croatia would send "all that is necessary at this stage of the procedure".
"Namely, our formal request, and documents from (the anti corruption agency) USKOK. And if anything else is necessary, we will send that as well," Bosnjakovic said.
The Austrian news agency APA said on Sunday that the Salzburg prosecutor's office was still waiting for the case file on Sanader to arrive from Croatia, adding that spokeswoman Barbara Feichtinger said she expected the documents by Tuesday at the latest.
Sanader, who was arrested in Austria on Friday on an international warrant issued by Croatia, was brought before an investigating judge in Salzburg for a second time on Sunday, pleading not guilty to what Croatia is accusing him of.
Sanader's Vienna-based attorney Werner Suppan said a simplified extradition procedure was not discussed, since Austrian law stipulates that this is possible only at a second hearing in 14 days.
Sanader left Croatia on Thursday morning before parliament stripped him of immunity from prosecution. Croatia's anti-corruption agency USKOK suspects him of conspiring to commit crime and abuse of office in the case of the marketing agency Fimi Media and in the illegal sale of electricity by the state-owned power company HEP to the petrochemical company Dioki.
