The Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) on Wednesday filed the first indictment against former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, accusing him of abuse of office as a deputy foreign minister in 1994 and 1995 and taking HRK 3.6 million in kickbacks for a loan the government obtained from Austria's Hypo bank.
"The USKOK indictment arrived at the court today," Zagreb County Court spokesman Kresimir Devcic told press. This court will try Sanader if a panel of judges upholds the indictment.
Sanader is accused of abusing office from late 1994 to March 1995 by negotiating with Hypo representatives, in Zagreb and in Austria, a loan for Croatia which, because of the war, high inflation and extremely high interest rates, had trouble finding banks at home from which to borrow.
USKOK claims that Sanader agreed a commission in the amount of seven million Austrian schillings (HRK 3.6 million), which he received in full after the Hypo bank and the Croatian government signed a loan agreement in the amount of 140 million schillings for the purchase and equipping of diplomatic offices.
USKOK accuses Sanader of abuse of office under a law stipulating that there is no statute of limitations on war profiteering in ownership transformation and privatisation. The indictment proposes that the HRK 3.6 million Sanader earned illegally be seized from him.
The investigation into Sanader in this case was launched in early March after the Klagenfurt prosecutor's office handed over, at the request of the Croatian State Prosecutor's Office, documents taken from the Hypo bank in connection with possible wrongdoing during the negotiations on and signing of the loan agreement. Sanader is suspected of agreeing the kickback with Wolfgang Kulterer and Guenter Striedinger, former Hypo executives under investigation by Austrian prosecutors.
When USKOK investigators interviewed him in late July, Sanader denied taking a kickback from the Austrian bank when he was a deputy foreign minister but refused to answer any questions.
According to Sanader's lawyers, the casefile has more than 1,000 pages but is markedly smaller than the one in the Fimi Media case.
Apart from the Hypo bank case, Sanader is under investigation in several other corruption cases in which he is suspected of abuse of office, conspiracy to commit crimes, and taking bribes. Sanader has rejected all accusations.
