A former member of foodmaker Podravka's supervisory board said at the Zagreb County Court on Tuesday the possibility of a hostile takeover of the Koprivnica-based company was not discussed during his term.
Damir Kovacic was testifying in a trial of several people accused in a case dubbed "Spice" of having tried to take ownership of Podravka with its own money, defrauding it of more than HRK 400 million. The accused have dismissed the charges, saying they were defending Podravka from a hostile takeover.
Kovacic sat on the supervisory board as a member of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) from the second half of 2008 through 2009, when he resigned.
During today's testimony, he said the possibility of a hostile takeover was not discussed during his term on the board and that according to what he read in the papers at the time, a hostile takeover had been discussed before.
Kovacic said the HSS had never given him guidelines or instructions while he was a member of Podravka's supervisory board, other than insisting that part of the party's "Renaissance of the Croatian Village" project be realised through Podravka as one of the strongest food producers.
Asked by defence counsel how the HSS had appointed him to Podravka's supervisory board although it had no shares in the company, Kovacic said political appointments had been usual in all state-owned companies.
He said the supervisory board discussed Podravka's relationship with the SMS company from Split when SMS was unable to repay a loan received from Podravka.
Kovacic said he left Podravka's supervisory board when his proposal for an audit and an extraordinary assembly to elect new management, after the "Spice" case came to light, did not pass.
Podravka had operational problems, the media reported about the case every day and the supervisory board knew nothing, he said, adding that the company had been beheaded, as the chairman of the supervisory board and members of the management board were in investigative custody.
The indictment in this case accuses former Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec, former Podravka executives Darko Marinac, Zdravko Sestak, Josip Pavlovic and Sasa Romac, SMS owner and director Srdjan Mladinic, the co-owner of Fima Group from Varazdin, Milan Horvat, and attorney Zoran Markovic.
Apart from conspiracy, they are charged with abuse of office, aiding and abetting the abuse, and illegal mediation.
The trial resumes on Wednesday.
