With a view to contributing to the advancement of Croatian democracy and encouraging political and social dialogue, during the election year 2009 Dioki made entirely transparent donations of HRK 200,000 each to the campaigns of presidential candidates Ivo Josipovic, Dragan Primorac and Nadan Vidosevic, and HRK 300,000 to the campaign of presidential candidate Andrija Hebrang, the company said.

As an important economic subject and one of Croatia's biggest exporters, Dioki is aware of its role in society and the business community, the company said, adding that its corporate management code comprised values and business practices that were entirely aligned with European and global standards.

Hebrang, incumbent chief of the parliamentary group of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union party, told reporters on Wednesday that Dioki owner Robert Jezic, who is currently in custody, had not made a donation for his presidential campaign and that "Jezic maybe paid the money to the party after the campaign."

Asked on the same day about the possibility of returning the money Jezic had donated for his campaign, President Josipovic said the money had been Dioki's and that he was willing to return it if it was established that it had anything to do with criminal activities.

Jezic, who owns Dioki and the Novi List newspaper, was arrested in Zagreb last Thursday. According to unofficial information, the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime suspects him, together with former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, the former CEO of the state-owned power company HEP, Ivan Mravak, and HEP executive Ivan Mrljak, of involvement in the sale of electricity to Dioki below the market price.