Former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader is expected to appear before the Zagreb County Court on Friday, for the first time since his extradition from Salzburg in July, to answer the charge of receiving 3.6 million kuna in kickbacks for securing a loan from the Austrian Hypo bank to Croatia in the mid-1990s.
On 31 August, the Office for Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) filed the first indictment against Sanader, accusing him of abuse of office as deputy foreign minister in 1994 and 1995 and of taking HRK 3.6 million in kickbacks for a loan the government obtained from Hypo bank.
The three-judge panel, presided by Judge Tanja Pavelin-Borzic, will convene behind closed doors at 1300 hours on Friday.
Sanader's lawyer, Cedo Prodanovic confirmed on Thursday that his client, currently held in investigative detention in Zagreb's Remetinec prison, would attend tomorrow's hearing.
Prodanovic said that the defence team, which also includes lawyers Jadranka Slokovic and Goran Suic, would stick to their argument that the indictment should be dismissed as groundless, insisting on Sanader's innocence.
USKOK prosecutors will outline the findings of the investigation in this case and evidence they collected for the indictment.
The panel of judges may uphold, quash or return the indictment to USKOK for further elaboration.
If upheld, the court will make preparations for a preliminary hearing before another panel of judges who will set a date for the trial.
On 23 September, USKOK issued a second indictment against Sanader, for allegedly receiving 10 million euros from the CEO of the Hungarian oil company MOL, Zsolt Hernadi, to help the Hungarian company assume the management rights of the Croatian oil company INA.
