Presenting his defence in the trial for the disputed purchase of military trucks in 2004, former Assistant Defence Minister Ivo Bacic on Thursday dismissed the charges brought against him by the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK).
Bacic and former Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic are charged with defrauding the government budget by buying for the Croatian army military trucks from the Iveco company that were more expensive and less good than trucks offered by other bidders.
"There was no previous agreement whatsoever between me and Roncevic, we did not favour anyone or defraud the budget," Bacic said at the Zagreb County Court in a comment on USKOK's charges.
He said that the decision to buy Iveco trucks was based on recommendations from the ministry's departments for development, equipment and modernisation and logistics.
The document on the basis of which the decision was made read that apart from Iveco trucks, only Mercedes trucks met the high NATO standards, but those vehicles were much more expensive, Bacic said.
He also said that he did not know that MAN trucks, which were 10.2 million kuna cheaper than Iveco's, had also passed the army's quality tests.
Nevertheless, he confirmed that Roncevic had told him to talk to Iveco representatives, but only in order to ask them if the truck price could remain the same if the ministry bought fewer trucks than planned.
"I did not know at the time that the deal would be made with Iveco and that Iveco was the only chosen bidder," Bacic said.
He recalled that Roncevic announced the decision on the direct deal with Iveco at a meeting, saying that he was responsible for accomplishing the goal of joining NATO and that it included equipment modernisation.
Bacic said the minister's decision was legal because it was the only possible way to buy the equipment and spend the budgetary funds intended for that purpose after the initial tender was cancelled.
"I did everything by following orders from my superiors - State Secretary Mate Raboteg and Minister Roncevic, and I could not refuse any task," Bacic said, adding that he did not violate any regulations or did anything illegal.
Roncevic, too, dismissed the charges against him at a hearing on Wednesday.
The trial will resume on Friday, when USKOK and the defence counsel for the accused will make their final statements.
