The head of the Customs Administration and former treasurer of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Mladen Barisic, was arrested in Zagreb on Wednesday morning, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said.
"I can confirm that Mladen Barisic was arrested this morning in the Fimi Media case," spokesman Krunoslav Borovec has said, declining to reveal any other details.
Barisic's attorney Ante Madunic could not confirm the news about his client's arrest, saying only that "certain activities" were under way.
The police are searching Barisic's apartment in downtown Zagreb.
For several months now the media have been linking Barisic with an alleged slush fund in the HDZ that was filled with money the Fimi Media company, owned by his friend Nevenka Jurak, obtained from deals with public companies.
It is believed that Barisic, following orders from former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, acted as a link between Jurak and executives of public companies, some of whom entered business deals with that market advertising agency.
The anti-corruption agency USKOK launched an investigation against Barisic a few months ago, but he was not arrested at the time, unlike Jurak, who has been in police custody since early August.
