Former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has been notified that he is under investigation in connection with the sale of an office building in Zagreb, but it is not clear when he will be questioned in this case, his lawyers said on Monday.
"Sanader has received a notification at his home address saying that he is under investigation, but no summons for testimony has arrived from (the anti-corruption office) USKOK," his lawyer Jadranka Slokovic told the press.
In the latest investigation launched by USKOK against Sanader, the former prime minister, the previous Minister of Regional Development, Forestry and Water Management, Petar Cobankovic, former Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) member of Parliament Stjepan Fiolic and court expert Mate Bitanga are suspected of irregularities in the sale of an office building in Planinska Street in Zagreb estimated at 26.4 million kuna (3.5 million euros).
The building was first owned by Fiolic's chain of butcher's shops and he did not sell it directly to the government but to Hypo Leasing Croatia, which leased it to the government for a 10 year period, from 2010 to 2019. The building was assessed at 62 million kuna (8.2 million euros), twice the market rate at the time, and the government decided on the lease purchase for the Ministry of Agriculture in April 2009.
Investigating the case, USKOK first questioned Cobankovic and then arrested Fiolic. Fiolic was released last Friday after spending a week in custody.
According to media reports, Fiolic admitted to USKOK that he and Sanader had devised the plan for the sale of the building.
