Testifying before the Zagreb County Court on Thursday, the former executive of Austrian Hypo Bank in charge of operations with Croatia, Gunther Striedinger, confirmed the authenticity of a note showing that during their talks in private the accused Ivo Sanader had promised to the Austrian bank's former CEO Wolfgang Kulterer that the Hypo bank would have a preferential position in Croatia.
The witness said that he had not been present at those talks but that he had compiled and signed the note about that meeting after Kulterer had described to him the content of his conversation with Sanader, who was Deputy Foreign Minister at the time relevant to the indictment.
The note reads that the receiver of the commission was Eugen Laxa.
Striedinger told the court that he had been present on three occasions when Kulterer paid a commission to the man who introduced himself as Eugen Laxa.
The witness said that the man in question was between 30 and 45 years old, and that it was not the man from a photo which was shown to him during his questioning in Klagenfurt, who might be 80 years old.
Striedinger said that the terms and conditions of the loan granted to Croatia in the mid 1990s had been agreed by Kulterer and Sanader in his capacity as Deputy Foreign Minister and that the 5% commission had been paid by the client, that is the Republic of Croatia.
He also said that the loan was favourable both to Austria and Croatia.
