The Supreme Court has quashed a ruling and called for a re-trial in the "Truck Scam" in which a former Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) defence minister, Berislav Roncevic and his assistant Ivo Bacic were originally sentenced to four and two years imprisonment for purchasing costlier and poorer trucks for the Croatian Armed Forces and in that way defrauded the state budget of HRK 10.2 million.
Zagreb County Court's ruling passed down in December 2010 was quashed due to incorrectly determined facts and the case has been sent for a retrial, the Supreme Court's spokesman Drazen Tripalo told the media on Wednesday without going into any specific detail.
Roncevic's counsel Kresimir Vilajtovic told the press that even though he had not yet received the verdict he was pleased with the outcome, adding that he was convinced that he would prove that his client was innocent of the charges against him.
Defence counsels in their appeal to the Supreme Court six months ago claimed that the verdict by the county court had been handed down based on a series of violations and under strong political pressure while the prosecution was convinced the charges were founded and that the sentences for the two were too mild.
