Former programme director of the Nova TV commercial television, Sinisa Svilan was on Monday sentenced to eight months imprisonment which he can exchange for community service. He was proclaimed guilty of receiving EUR 67,500 in bribes to televise programmes produced by the Core Media group on Nova TV.
Because the sentence is less than one year, Svilan can exchange the prison term for community service but is still obliged to pay the state the equivalent amount of the bribe, Zagreb County Court presided by Judge Jasna Smiljanic decided.
In its closing remarks the anti-corruption office (USKOK) asked for a guilty verdict claiming that the trial had proven that Core Media productions were televised on Nova TV at Svilan's initiative and that witnesses had confirmed that he had negotiated the price, proposed projects and used his authority to influence the board of directors.
Svilan's defence counsel claimed that Svilan was not authorised to conclude agreements of this nature but that it was in fact the board of directors that had the final say.
The charges against Svilan were raised in April last year and the trial began in September. Svilan pleaded not guilty to the charges.
During the trial USKOK conducted a probe into four other suspects for not paying HRK 3.1 million in Value Added Tax and for syphoning over HRK 16 million from the Core Media and Media Spot companies. Toward the end of the trial the probe was extended to a former reporter and editor on the national television broadcaster Dijana Culjak and a day later she was arrested. Culjak's husband was the production director at Core Media.
