The arraignment hearing for former Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec and seven other defendants in the case dubbed "Spice" started before the Zagreb County Court on Wednesday.
After the arraignment, the defendants are expected to enter a plea.
Apart from Polancec, the accused in the case are: former executives of Podravka Darko Marinac, Zdravko Sestak, Josip Pavlovic and Sasa Romac, manager of the SMS company Srdjan Mladinic, co-owner of Fima Group Milan Horvat, and lawyer Zoran Markovic.
They are charged with a conspiracy to buy a majority stake in Podravka with the company's own money, defrauding it of more than 400 million kuna (54 million euros).
