The ex PM and former president of the Croatian Democratic Union has to report to the investigating judge every first Monday of the month as long as necessary.

Unlike the last time when he was half an hour late, this morning Sander arrived on time. He left the court about 20 minutes later.

His lawyer Jadranka Slokovic said this was a regular procedure, adding that the defence team was ready to give a deposition at the anti-corruption office USKOK at 10 am Tuesday.

USKOK investigators want to interrogate Sanader in connection with accusations that he and Dioki company owner Robert Jezic attempted to gain an illegal profit of 10 million euros for Dioki at the expense of the state-owned oil pipeline operator JANAF.

Sanader was scheduled to be interrogated last week, but he showed up at USKOK without his lawyers so the questioning had to be postponed. As that was his second time to arrive for interrogation without his lawyers, USKOK postponed the questioning for 7 February when another defence lawyer or a court appointed attorney would be offered to him, should he appear without his lawyer again.

Sanader was granted a provisional release on December 16 after posting HRK 12.6 million (EUR 1.68 million) bail, handing over his passport and promising not to leave his place of residence. He had earlier been ordered to report to the investigating judge every first Monday of the month.

Sanader is on trial for taking an unlawful commission from Austria's Hypo Bank in the mid-1990s to facilitate a loan to Croatia and for receiving bribes from the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL to secure it a dominant role in Croatia's INA. He has recently been charged with siphoning funds from state institutions and companies via the privately-owned marketing firm Fimi Media into the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party's slush funds.