Austrian prosecutors want to refer to Croatia a case in which former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader is suspected of money laundering, Austrian news agency APA said on Tuesday.
Anti-corruption prosecutors in Vienna have sent a request to Croatia to take over the case, the prosecutors' spokeswoman, Eva Habicher, told APA.
Croatia has not responded yet, APA said.
A Tyrol bank filed a report in December 2010 suspecting money laundering after it had found 1.3 million euros in the accounts belonging to Sanader or his family member.
"It's the money Sanader earned as a businessman before his political career," APA quoted his lawyer as saying. Sanader has denied any wrongdoing.
Sanader had asked a district criminal court in Vienna to drop the money laundering charges against him, but his request was turned down in mid-January, Habicher said, adding that Sanader still had time to appeal.
The Austrian prosecutors sent their request to Croatia a few weeks ago, saying that the alleged crime had been committed in Croatia and the suspect was in Croatia. If Croatia dropped the charges, Sanader would no longer be a suspect in Austria either, Habicher explained.
