Sanader's lawyers and doctors said the findings of ergometric testing had shown departures but that no additional intervention was necessary for now. A new cardiological checkup has been scheduled for a month from now.

On Friday morning, he was brought from prison to the Zagreb County Court for an arraignment on war profiteering charges, but he complained to the panel of judges about having cardiological problems. Two experts told the panel Sanader had health problems, after which the arraignment was adjourned until Thursday and he was taken to hospital.

The November 3 arraignment will mark the official beginning of his trial for war profiteering, on charges of taking HRK 3.6 million in commission on a loan which Croatia obtained from Austria's Hypo bank in the mid-1990s.

One of his counsel, Jadranka Slokovic, told press the former PM was considering filing a defamation suit against the media which said that he had used his condition to manipulate the judges.

"His diagnosis hasn't been brought into question by anything and the health problems have been confirmed in doctors' records and statements," she said.

Slokovic said the media were acting as though the proceedings against Sanader were over even before going to trial. "Order should be introduced to the proceedings and information leaks restricted."

As an example of unacceptable leaks from the investigation, she cited the latest media reports about a secret video of a meeting between Sanader and Zsolt Hernadi, chairman of the board of the Hungarian oil company MOL who, according to the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime, gave Sanader EUR 10 million in bribes to give MOL management rights in the Croatian oil company INA.

Slokovic said the video was made after Sanader had stepped down as PM and the INA-MOL deal been concluded.

"Something can hardly be agreed after the conclusion of a contract, and Sanader was no longer prime minister at that time," she said. She will see the prosecution's new piece of evidence in its entirety only at a preliminary hearing in the INA-MOL case on November 7.

Slokovic said the defence team would lodge an appeal with the Constitutional Court today against the custody in which their client was remanded "despite the changed circumstances and the bail offered."

The defence team will offer the HRK 12.4 million bail (approx 1.6 million euros) and Sanader's passport to the Constitutional Court as guarantee that he will show up at the hearings. The lawyers are convinced the Zagreb County Court rejected the bail, the highest ever offered, and their claims that Sanader was no longer a flight risk with no explanation.