The Croatian Police Directorate said on Tuesday that an Interpol Red Notice and a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) had been issued for Hernadi.

The Croatian police sent the official request to Interpol in Lyon after receiving a request on Monday to issue a warrant for Hernadi, who is suspected of bribing former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader into giving MOL management rights in Croatia's oil and gas company INA.

"Whilst Croatia may be at liberty to do so under national law, we maintain that the manner in which the Croatian authorities are currently proceeding is in contradiction to supra-national European law, which provides for an EU-wide common regime, and which Croatia has opted to be legally bound by through accession to the EU earlier this year," MOL said in the statement.

MOL Group, which operates in 40 countries and employs nearly 31,000 people, reiterated that internal investigations had revealed no evidence of improper or illegal business practices on the part of MOL Group or any of its representatives.

"We question whether the procedures followed with regard to the claims made against MOL are compliant with established legal procedures elsewhere in Europe and internationally. In our view, they are not compliant with the rule of law," MOL said.

MOL underscored that it "will defend itself by all legal means against the outrageous actions that have been taken against Mr. Hernadi and the company, which appear to be influenced by interests seeking to intimidate both the company and its Chairman."

Last November, the Zagreb court sentenced Sanader on corruption charges involving the alleged payment of a bribe of millions of euros to give MOL management rights in its Croatian peer INA.

MOL's stake in INA is just short of a majority. The other big shareholder in the company is the Croatian state.