A former board chairman of the Podravka food company, Zdravko Sestak, and former procurement director in that Koprivnica-based company, Darko Korosec, were each sentenced to one year and eight months in prison for bribe taking, while businessman Nevio Prlog was sentenced to one year for giving bribes in that case.
The verdict announced by the Zagreb County Court today is non-final and may be appealed.
The trial chamber, presided by Judge Zeljko Horvatovic, also decided that once the guilty verdicts became final, Sestak should pay back HRK 190,000 and Korosec 252,000.
The national anti-corruption investigating agency USKOK issued the indictment against Sestak, Korosec and Prlog in late January.
USKOK alleged that Prlog won Podravka's tenders in collusion with the other two men, and in return he paid for construction work on Korosec's and Sestak's private property.
Sestak is also one of the eight suspects in the so-called Spice case whom USKOK holds responsible for a HRK 400 million fraud in Podravka. Another suspect in that case is former Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec, Prlog's close friend.
