A new expert report in a case of a controversial army truck purchase shows that the more expensive Iveco vehicles, which landed former Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic and his assistant Ivo Bacic in the dock, did not meet Defence Ministry requirements.
Since the trial started, Roncevic has been trying to contest the indictment, which accuses him of buying the more expensive Iveco trucks through a direct deal, by claiming that the cheaper MAN trucks did not meet ministry requirements and that he did not want to "assume responsibility for other people's lives" by purchasing them.
However, an analysis made by experts at Zagreb's Faculty of Transport showed that the Iveco trucks did not meet any of the ministry's five requirements, whereas the HRK 10 million cheaper MAN trucks met three.
The new analysis was requested by Roncevic's defence in an attempt to prove that the cheaper trucks could not be considered for purchase and to contest the indictment by the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime, which charged Roncevic and Bacic with defrauding the state budget of HRK 10.2 million by purchasing the Iveco military trucks, although MAN trucks were cheaper.
Neither the defence nor the prosecution would comment on the latest findings, saying they needed time to examine them.
