The lawyer said that the Zagreb County Court would decide on Wednesday on USKOK's request for launching an investigation against his client.

This concerns business operations between two companies, and I am prevented by the law from saying anything more specific. I can only say that this has nothing to do with any business operations with the state, ministries or similar things which media have speculated," the lawyer said.

He also denied media reports that some high-profile figures such as the Tax Administration director Mladen Barisic were being questioned today.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that a criminal investigation had been launched in cooperation with USKOK against three people on suspicion of wrongdoings in business operations of several state-owned companies with the Zagreb-headquartered Fimi-media d.o.o. company.

They are suspected of conspiring to charge fictitious bills for non-performed services, thus ensuring for themselves at least HRK 16.5 million.

Criminal charges were pressed against the three suspects, according to the ministry.

In early May, Barisic's lawyer Ante Madunic, said that his client was under investigation by the USKOK national anti-corruption investigative agency on suspicion of unlawful brokerage, adding that Barisic had been notified about the investigation but had not yet been called for questioning.

According to unofficial information, Barisic was suspected of having unlawfully secured marketing and advertising projects for the Fimi-media company, owned by his friend Nevenka Jurak, in state-run companies - the INA oil company and the Croatia Osiguranje insurance firm.

Barisic was dismissed as the HDZ treasurer in late January after the party's leader, Jadranka Kosor, said that he had not been doing his job in the party since she took over from Ivo Sanader.

When asked about Barisic's possible dismissal as head of the Customs Administration, Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said in May that all state bodies must do their job.