The commencement of the trial of Ivo Sanader accused of taking HRK 3.6 million in kickbacks for a loan which the Hypo bank granted to Croatia in the mid-1990s is scheduled for 28 October, according to a decision made on Friday by the Zagreb County Court's judge, Ivan Turudic, at a pre-trial hearing.
During today's hearing behind the closed doors, Judge Turudic granted all requests by the prosecution, including a list of witnesses to be questioned at the trial of the former Prime Minister in the Hypo case in which Sanader is accused of war profiteering and abuse of office when he was Deputy Foreign Minister and allegedly received HRK 3.6 million in kickbacks for the loan Austrian Hypo bank had approved to Croatia in the mid-1990s.
Sanader was today transferred to the Zagreb County Court's building from the Remetinec prison where he has been detained since his extradition from Austria this July. His three-month detention expires on 18 October when the judicial authorities should decide either to release him or extend his detention.
The court's spokesman, Kresimir Devcic, said today that Sanader had denied all charges from the Hypo case indictment.
The trial will be held in the grand hall of the court and will be opened to the public. The spokesman said that security measures would be defined by relevant agencies for the forthcoming trial of Sanader.
Some of the first witnesses to be called by the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) will be former Foreign Minister Mate Granic and Nikica Valentic, who was the Prime Minister of the cabinet in which Sanader served as Deputy Foreign Minister.
Prosecutor Tamara Laptos of USKOK said that this investigating agency would call 19 witnesses in this case,
