National chief of police Oliver Grbic on Tuesday denied media allegations that he had frequently met businessman Drazen Golemovic, one of the defendants in a graft trial before the county court in Rijeka.
Grbic said that he and his wife had never made friends with Golemovic or met him, as suggested in some print media.
He said in a statement that the purpose of such claims was smearing his reputation and that of the police "with the aim of undermining pubic trust in the police".
In October 2009, the national anti-corruption agency USKOK charged Golemovic and eight other persons with crimes of abuse of office, incitement to abuse of office, illegal intermediation, and giving and taking of bribes. The trial in this case, dubbed Ipsilon, commenced before the Rijeka County Court in early May with six of the accused, including Golemovic, pleading guilty to a number of criminal acts, while three indictees entered pleas of not guilty.
The indictment says that with the help of five police officers, a customs officer, a municipal prosecutor and a tax administration official, Golemovic obtained official information to which he was not entitled by law.
One of the eight defendants, former county prosecutor in the Pazin office of the Chief State Prosecutor, Davorka Smokovic, told the court on Monday that Grbic and Golemovic and their wives had frequently had dinners together.
The first defendant Golemovic immediately denied the claim.
Grbic had served as chief of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Department before being promoted as national police chief.
