The Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) recommended on Monday that the former Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) member of Parliament and owner of a chain of butcher's shops, Stjepan Fiolic, be heard as a witness in the Fimi Media corruption trial after an investigation in another case found that he was hiding in his home valuable works of art which the accused former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader is believed to have acquired with money siphoned from state institutions and public companies.
At the end of today's hearing in the trial of Sanader, the HDZ and former party officials for siphoning funds through the privately-owned marketing agency Fimi Media, USKOK prosecutor Zeljka Mostecak submitted for inclusion in the case file a report on the seizure of objects from Fiolic's home and a report on the assessment of the value of paintings that were handed over to the State Property Management Agency.
The prosecutor did not give the value of the works of art in question.
Media have speculated that Sanader gave his works of art to Fiolic for safekeeping when he had realised that his assets might be frozen after several anti-corruption investigations were launched against him.
