Although the Zagreb County Court on Wednesday extended Ivo Sanader's detention in investigative custody for two more months, overruling a claim by Sanader's defence team that the former Croatian prime minister had not been on the run in Austria but had been there for a previously scheduled business meeting, one of Sanader's lawyers, Cedo Prodanovic, later in the day insisted on his position that before his arrest in Salzburg on 10 December, Sanader had been on his way back to Croatia.
"He was coming back and this was known to top officials in the prosecutorial authorities, USKOK (Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime) and the Interior Ministry who had talked with the then lawyers representing him and making arrangements on how he would come back," Prodanovic said leaving the Remetinec prison facilities where a detention hearing was held earlier on Wednesday,
Although he had a plane ticket for a trip to the United States which, Prodanovic said, he had cancelled, Sanader was coming back to Croatia "in agreement with official agencies".
Investigating judge Kresimir Devcic said in his ruling that Sanader could have turned himself in to the authorities as soon as he had learnt that he was under suspicion rather than waiting for being arrested at a motorway near Salzburg on a warrant.
The judge said that the former premier had actively presented arguments to corroborate his defence. He said that Sanader was not in so bad condition as speculated by the media.
Apart from treating him as a flight risk, the other reason for keeping Sanader behind bars is a possibility for him to tamper with witnesses, according to the court's explanation.
Lawyer Prodanovic said that as many as 296 witnesses had been questioned so far and some 30 are yet to be heard. The defence team will consider a possibility of lodging an appeal against the extended detention after it received the court's decision in writing.
Sanader, who is also former president of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, is the prime suspect in the Fimi Media case. He is suspected of conspiring together with other suspects in the case, including former head of the Customs Administration Mladen Barisic, and of abuse of office to siphon funds from government ministries and state-owned companies through the private company Fimi Media. Some HRK 100 million is believed to have been siphoned off this way and some of the money ended up in the HDZ's slush fund.
Apart from the Fimi Media case, Sanader is suspected of illegal operations between the Croatian Power Company (HEP) and the Dioki petrochemical company, owned by Robert Jezic. He is also suspected that in 1995, in his capacity as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, he abused his office by arranging with Hypo Alpe Adria Bank a commission of HRK 3.5 million in exchange for a loan the bank approved to the Croatian government.
USKOK has widened the investigation against Sanader and Dioki owner Jezic on the suspicion that they attempted to gain an illegal profit of 10 million euros for Dioki at the expense of the state-owned oil pipeline operator JANAF. In mid-June, an investigation was launched on suspicion that he received EUR 10 million in kickbacks for awarding Hungary's MOL with management rights in Croatia's oil and gas group INA.
