The trial of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader for war profiteering in the Hypo bank loan case continued on Thursday with the testimony of former Hypo Leasing Croatia director Drago Vidakovic who said that there had been talk among executives of the Austrian bank that a commission would have to be paid to Sanader for a loan to Croatia.
When asked by the prosecutor who was responsible for paying a commission in such cases, Vidakovic said that a commission was paid by the bank, adding that the amount of commission was calculated in the loan and was ultimately paid by the loan beneficiary.
The witness confirmed his earlier statement made to investigators that he had seen Hypo Bank CEO Wolfgang Kulterer handing an envelope to Sanader in the car park of the Hypo Bank building in Klagenfurt in early 1995.
Vidakovic apparently contacted the Croatian anti-corruption agency USKOK of his own accord to give testimony in the case after Sanader was formally indicted. In the meantime, he himself has become the subject of an investigation by the Zagreb County Prosecutor's Office on the suspicion that he defrauded Hypo Leasing Croatia of 20 million kuna (2.66 million euros).
Sanader was brought to the court from Remetinec Prison. He was granted 12.4 million kuna (1.65 million euros) bail on Wednesday, the highest bail in Croatia's judicial history, and is expected to be released by no later than Monday December 12, after he submits proof of bail payment.
Sanader is charged with taking a 3.6 million kuna (480,000 euros) commission from the loan which Hypo Bank granted to Croatia. He is also accused of receiving 10 million euros in bribes from the CEO of the Hungarian oil company MOL, Zsolt Hernadi, to secure MOL a dominant position in the Croatian oil company INA.
