The Croatian Justice Ministry on Monday afternoon forwarded a request to the Austrian Justice Ministry for the extradition of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, said the Croatian ministry's spokeswoman, Vesna Dovranic.
Speaking to the press, she said the ministry forwarded the request together with the entire documentation required in line with a 1982 agreement between Austria and the then Yugoslav federation.
Sanader was arrested in Austria on Friday. Yesterday he pleaded not guilty to the charges from Croatia before an investigating judge from Salzburg. His Vienna-based attorney Werner Suppan said a simplified extradition procedure was not discussed at the hearing and that, under Austrian law, this would be possible only at another hearing in a fortnight.
Croatian State Attorney Mladen Bajic confirmed the extradition procedure was launched.
Sanader was arrested near Salzburg on an international warrant issued by Croatia. He left Croatia on Thursday morning before parliament stripped him of immunity from prosecution. Croatia's anti-corruption agency USKOK suspects him of conspiracy to commit crime and of abuse of office in the case of the marketing agency Fimi Media and in the illegal sale of electricity by the state-owned power company HEP to the petrochemical company Dioki.
