Earlier this month, USKOK dropped the first count of the investigation order which suspected Polancec of conspiracy with former HEP and TLM executives Ivan Mravak and Ivan Kostan. Today, USKOK dropped the third count suspecting Polancec of lobbying that HEP, because of the damage incurred, should be given state-owned stock in the JANAF oil pipeline operator worth HRK 145 million.

Leaving USKOK after a six-hour deposition during which he was questioned as a suspect, Polancec told the press he had expected that he would become a witness in the case.

He said it turned out that everything he said during a previous deposition a year ago "was credible and true and that all the materials are beyond question."

Asked if he had accused former PM Ivo Sanader, who USKOK will interrogate as a new suspect in the case tomorrow, Polancec said he had been saying the same thing since his arrest two years ago. "I'm defending myself only with the truth and I'm ready to bear the consequences of my mistakes."

His attorney Anto Nobilo said he was pleased that this was the second investigation into Polancec that was dropped, the first being in the INA-MOL case, in which Sanader is the main suspect.

Polancec is on trial in the Podravka case, which his attorney estimates will last a long time.

Polancec and Nobilo said they were waiting for the Supreme Court's decision on a ruling sentencing Polancec to 15 months' imprisonment for commissioning an unnecessary study.

Although the media have speculated that the Supreme Court has reduced the sentence by five months, Polancec said he expected the Court to acquit him or order a retrial, voicing confidence that he could prove his innocence.

According to the media, USKOK could drop the prosecution of Mravak in the HEP-TLM case as well, whereby Mravak would become a witness against Sanader, who is suspected of having incited him to sign contracts on the sale of electricity that were detrimental to the national power provider.