A month-long detention has been set for the Fimi-media owner, Nevenka Jurak, and for her business associate Anita Loncar Papes, who are suspected of financial wrongdoings, Zagreb County Court judge Kresimir Devcic said on Wednesday.
The court placed them in investigative custody in order to prevent them from tampering with witnesses, manipulating documents or from repeating the same crime.
Judge Devcic declined to specify the criminal charges Jurak and Loncar Popes may face, explaining the the national Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) is conducting the investigation.
USKOK has requested the questioning of 16 witnesses in the further course of the probe, Devcic said adding the list of witnesses could be extended during the probe.
Jurak's lawyer, Kresimir Vilajtovic, said today that the defence team had not yet been notified with the names of those witnesses.
Asked what charges were laid against his client, the lawyer said this was about business relations between two companies, in which, USKOK claims, they unlawfully gained HRK 16.5 million.
Vilajtovic reiterated that nobody from public companies or state institutions was mentioned in this probe.
Jurak strongly denies her guilt, he said.
USKOK has launched an investigation against Jurak, Loncar Papes, and Bojan Dimic on suspicion of their involvement in irregularities in business cooperation between the Fimi-media marketing company and several state-owned companies.
They are suspected of having conspired to submit false bills for nonexistent services, thus obtaining illegal gain for themselves in the amount of HRK 16.5 million.
USKOK pressed criminal charges against those three suspects.
