A Zagreb County Court panel of judges which has to decide whether to uphold the indictment in the Fimi Media case, in which nine legal and natural persons are charged with siphoning more than HRK 70 million from state institutions and ministries, began a session on Friday without the accused attending.
Among the accused are former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and for the first time, a political party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), of which he was president at the time relevant to the indictment.
Since the case file, one of the biggest in Croatia's judicial history, has more than 500 pages, it is possible the panel will not reveal today whether the indictment has been upheld, rejected or returned to the anti-corruption office USKOK for amendment, but convene a new hearing before making a decision.
The indictment contends that HRK 31.6 million went into the HDZ's slush funds between 2003 and 2009 and that Sanader pocketed HRK 15 million. The other accused are former HDZ officials - treasurer Mladen Barisic, election campaign manager Ratko Macek, and accountant Branka Pavosevic; the owner of the Fimi Media company, Nevenka Jurak; her associates Anita Loncar Papes and Bojan Dimic; and their companies - Fimi Media, Ani-Lon, and Onida.
USKOK contends that HRK 70 million was siphoned from state companies and institutions via the privately-owned Fimi Media company and that the former ruling party used part of it to finance its election campaigns.
