"The money came from the legal party's treasury. I received it at the HDZ headquarters and not in a coffee shop or at a cemetery. Had I known about the slush fund I would never have signed any document or taken any money," Milinovic told the Zagreb County Court.

After Pavosevic's depositions were read out in court, in which she said that on the orders of former prime minister and HDZ president Ivo Sanader, Milinovic, who at the time served as minister of health, had been receiving a monthly compensation of HRK10,000 since June 2008, Milinovic said he could not comment on what Pavosevic and Sanader had talked about.

"I was not aware of Fimi Media until the scandal made the headlines. Immediately after I heard about the scandal I checked if there was anything contentious in the work of my ministry," Milinovic said.

Milinovic reiterated several times in court today that receipts which Pavosevic provided to court to back her claims concerning the payment of 20,000 and 30,000 kuna were forged. He recalled that he had pressed charges against an unknown forger after Pavosevic testified that Sanader ordered that Milinovic be given compensation from the party coffers.

Milinovic was the last witness heard before a summer recess.

Pavosevic, who was dismissed as the HDZ's head of accounting after auditors detected irregularities in the party's book-keeping in 2008, is suspected of conspiring with former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, former customs chief Mladen Barisic and several ministers and CEOs of public companies to siphon funds from state institutions and public companies through the privately owned marketing firm Fimi Media.

Pavosevic confessed to the charges.

Also accused are the owner of the Fimi Media company Nevenka Jurak and former spokesman for Sanader, Ratko Macek.