When reporters from the Jutarnji asked Jarnjak about the document, he stated that that decision had never been passed by the party presidency and that he had signed it afterwards in 2009 when the State Auditor arrived in HDZ HQ.

‘That decision was never brought to the party presidency on February 11, 2008. Only at a later date, as it was suggested by the State Auditor, did I draft and sign the presidency’s decision to buy the vehicle,’ said Jarnjak. With this, Jarnjak has actually confessed to forging Presidency documents. Article 312 of the Criminal Code says that any signed official document (and its officiating with an official stamp) without basis in fact is to be considered a forgery.

‘I wouldn’t call it a forgery, but yes, the decision was written at a later time. It was written only to complete documents required by the Auditor. It’s like that in all parties. When the Auditors come in and find something missing, its added later. It’s a formality,’ Jarnjak says.

However, in a response to the Jutarnji List, the auditors denied Jarnjak’s claim. ‘The State Auditor does not suggest or propose retroactively conjuring documents for past business deals. This was not done in the HDZ,’ said Biserka Coh Mikulec, assistant to the Auditor General in charge of PR.

The purchase of the bulletproofed BMW caused a scandal in Croatia, as this came at a time when then-PM Sanader demanded austerity measures be enforced throughout the country – only to turn around and buy a luxury vehicle. This was because Sanader refused to be driven in a vehicle from the Interior Ministry for high-profile persons. Ranking HDZ members claimed to have no knowledge of the purchase, saying that they only found out about it in the media.