Court-appointed distrainers and police entered the yard of the house of the former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader in Zagreb on Monday morning in a bid to seize temporarily his family's art collection.
At about 9 am this morning a white van arrived at the yard outside the house and a few men in plainclothes walked towards the house. They rang at the door, but no one answered, although lights were on in the home. The men left the yard only to come back 20 minutes later being accompanied by plainclothes police.
However, the seizure of the property has not yet begun.
The seizure of the art collection was requested by the national anti-corruption investigating agency (USKOK). Its request has been granted by the Zagreb County Court that has recently frozen the property of the former premier and his closest family.
The property, including the art collection and the blocked bank account should help the state to ensure the forced compensation for costs and damage in the event of a guilty verdict. Sanader is under investigation for abuse of office and malfeasance related to business deals between the state-owned power supplier HEP and the private Dioki company and for conspiracy to siphon money from ministries and state agencies via the private Fimi media company.
He is currently in the extradition custody in Austria.
