Earlier in the day, Polancec was sentenced to 15 months in prison for paying Miletic half a million kuna (EUR 68,500) in budget funds to write an unnecessary study.

Polancec says in the statement that upon leaving Zagreb's Remetinec prison on July 22, he contacted an intermediary with a mandate from the secretary-general of the ruling HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) party.

"As the day approached of my testimony before the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the (privatisation of the oil company) INA case and of the hearing in the 'convalidation case' (held on September 3), my attorney Anto Nobilo, in previous agreement with me, proposed a plea bargain to the State Prosecutor's Office regarding the 'convalidation case'," Polancec says.

He adds that between August 20 and September 2, he talked at his own initiative with senior HDZ officials Luka Bebic and Ivan Jadrnjak, to inform them about the plea-bargain.

That was followed by "a meeting with Prime Minister (and HDZ leader) Jadranka Kosor at the party headquarters, after her return from Libya on 2 September 2010, at her initiative," Polancec says in the statement.

He adds that he was "shocked by the fact that the conversation was recorded and that a report was written about it, as stated by (State Prosecutor) Mladen Bajic. I am therefore absolutely interested in the report being published, but with the release of the audio recording as well".

Polancec says he informed Kosor that he proposed a plea-bargain to the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK), which was "turned down in the meantime," which he says means that "as a reward for solving a huge problem for the government, the party and the state, which the case of Borovo workers certainly was, an unconditional prison sentence would be requested".

Polancec claims that Kosor asked him if he had talked to the government, which he says meant Deputy Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks, and that she promised to help him as much as she could.

According to Polancec, that was followed by a meeting with Seks, who told him that he should defend himself by saying that he had done everything at the orders and in direct coordination with former PM Ivo Sanader and that Sanader had ordered him to pay Miletic via the study.

"I didn't act on my own accord but at the order of the prime minister and indeed in coordination with him, but in the interest of the party, the government, Croatia, but also in the interest of those people (Borovo workers), whose fate we were dealing with," Polancec says in the statement.

USKOK charged Polancec with abuse of powers and with making it possible for Miletic to obtain considerable personal gain. Polancec said in court that he had not worked in the interest of Miletic, whom he paid half a million kuna of budget money as compensation for the fee Miletic lost when the Serb workers of the Borovo footwear company from Vukovar gave up their lawsuits against the state, which they had filed because unlike the company's Croat workers, they had not received severance pay and because their years of service during the occupation of Vukovar had not been recognised.

Polancec goes on to say in his statement that although he no longer has positive feelings towards Sanader, he is not willing to lie and try to save himself by falsely accusing Sanader.

"Sanader never told me to pay the lawyer via the study, although he knew that I would hire him to cover part of his costs," Polancec says in his statement.

Commenting on the statement, HDZ vice president Ivan Jarnjak told Nova TV on Friday night that Polancec had visited him and asked him to convey his request that Kosor see him.

"I only know that Polancec came to see me and asked that I convey to PM Kosor his request that she receive him," said Jarnjak, adding that he did not know the exact date of the visit.

"That afternoon I met the PM and conveyed Polancec's request that she receive him. She said that she would see, that she would receive him. That's it," said Jarnjak.