Former Hypo Bank management board chair Wolfgang Kulterer testified at the trial of former Croatian Prime Minister and former president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Ivo Sanader in Zagreb on Thursday, reiterating that he had paid a commission for the loan with which Croatia was expected to buy embassy buildings in 1995 to a person named Eugen Laxa.
The prosecution, however, alleges in the indictment that Sanader was the one to receive kickbacks from the Austrian bank in the mid-1990s, when Croatia was still at war, which is why he is charged with war profiteering.
Kulterer also dismissed claims by the former Hypo Leasing director in Croatia, Drago Vidakovic, who said earlier he had seen Kulterer in Klagenfurt in 1995 give an envelope to Sanader, who at the time was Croatia's deputy foreign minister.
"This sounds interesting but it's not possible," Kulterer said, stressing he had never met with Sanader in Klagenfurt. Kulterer called Vidakovic "a crazy guitarist" whom he first met in the early 1990s.
Kulterer claims Laxa was introduced to him in August 1994 as a go-between representing Croatia, but he could not remember if he met him in the Croatian Foreign Ministry or the central bank, or who introduced them.
Kulterer claims he informed Sanader that a go-between was included in the deal, adding that Sanader joined loan deal negotiations at a later date.
"Sanader was informed," the witness said without specifying if Sanader knew Laxa prior to that.
The prosecutor said it was unusual that kickbacks were agreed and paid in cash even before the deal was concluded. Kulterer responded that it was entirely natural to agree a deal in advance.
"Those were the years immediately after the break up of Yugoslavia and that was the usual practice in these parts. Everyone wanted to be paid in cash," he added.
He recalled that he had personally given money to Laxa on four occasions. "I know it can sound strange that a management board chair is paying out kickbacks, but given the size and importance of that deal, we raised the payment to the level of the management board," Kulterer said.
Apart from receiving a 3.6 million kuna commission from the Austrian bank, Sanader is also charged with taking 10 million euros in bribes from the Hungarian oil company MOL in exchange for securing MOL a dominant position in the Croatian oil company INA.
Sanader denies all charges against him.
