A panel of judges of the Zagreb County Court, presided over by Judge Ivan Turudic, on Wednesday started examining grounds for an indictment issued by the anti-corruption agency USKOK in a case in which former Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec and seven former executives of the Podravka food company and their business partners are charged with defrauding Podravka of at least HRK 400 million (approx. EUR 54 million).
The other accused in the case are former Podravka executives Darko Marinac, Zdravko Sestak, Josip Pavlovic and Sasa Romac, the owner and manager of the SMS company from Split, Srdjan Mladinic, a co-owner of the Fima Grupa company from Varazdin, Milan Horvat, and attorney Zoran Markovic.
All indictees except for Mladinic and Markovic arrived for today's hearing, which started at 9 am. They arrived in the company of their attorneys and would not give any statements to the press.
They are charged with conspiracy to commit crime, abuse of powers, incitement of abuse of powers, and illegal brokerage.
At the hearing, which was being held behind closed doors, the panel of judges was to review the results of a year-long investigation into the case and evidence on which USKOK bases its indictment, issued last September.
Since this is one of the most extensive cases in the history of the Croatian judiciary, with the case file consisting of more than 40,000 pages, the panel of judges will convene again on January 17.
After the second hearing, the judges will either confirm the indictment, or turn it down or return it to the prosecution to complete it.
If the indictment is confirmed, the court will schedule a preparatory hearing before another panel of judges which is to set a date for the start of the trial and decide on evidence to be presented in the trial and witnesses to be heard during the proceedings.
Legal representatives for Podravka have requested that the indictees return the embezzled money.
