The Zagreb County Court will decide later on if former President Stjepan Mesic and former Croatian Democratic Union secretary-general Ivan Jarnjak will testify in a trial in a corruption case dubbed Spice, although some defence counsel said the opposite this morning, and the court will also decide later on whether Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and her predecessor Ivo Sanader will be called to the stand.
The trial of former Deputy PM Damir Polancec and seven others will begin on Monday. The court has decided to hear 150 witnesses, including 115 recommended by the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime.
The defendants are charged with conspiracy to use the money of the Podravka food company to buy a majority stake in the company, defrauding it of more than HRK 400 million (approx. EUR 54m) in the process.
Some of the high profile defence witnesses are Peasant Party president Josip Friscic, former government spokesman Ratko Macek, and Podravka supervisory board chairman Ljubo Jurcic.
Among the high profile prosecution witnesses are Privredna Banka Zagreb Board chairman Bozo Prka, Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic, and former Croatian Privatisation Fund president Vedran Duvnjak.
The panel of judges will decide in the course of the trial whether to allow testimony by Kosor, Sanader, Mesic, Jarnjak, Economy Minister Djuro Popijac, MP Boris Kunst, unionist Ozren Matijasevic, and Zagrebacka Banka Board chairman Franjo Lukovic.
