The head of the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK), Dinko Cvitan, said on Sunday that former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's assets had been blocked and that the State Attorney's Office was still far from indicting him, as before that the investigation had to be completed, many witnesses interviewed, and finances checked.
About 100 witnesses have to be interviewed and experts have to examine the finances, Cvitan told Nova TV.
Asked by the reporter about the severity of the punishment that would be requested, Cvitan said the State Attorney's Office was still not asking anything with regard to a prison sentence in the Sanader case. He added that in conspiracy to commit crime, the mastermind could get a maximum prison sentence of five years, and for abuse of office, up to 10 years in jail.
"It's too early to talk about anything, including about the state prosecutor or USKOK requesting a 13-year sentence," said Cvitan.
Asked about the possibility of expanding the investigation into Sanader to include the Hypo bank case as well, he said USKOK was investigating and that it would make its decision based on with facts and evidence.
Asked if he could confirm that Mladen Barisic, a former treasurer of the ruling HDZ party, had revealed to whom he had been bringing money, Cvitan said he could not say what somebody said during USKOK's investigation.
USKOK is investigating everything it thinks it should also in connection with Sanader's HDZ-purchased BMW, he said. Asked if USKOK might interview incumbent PM Jadranka Kosor in connection with this, Cvitan said he could not say who would be interviewed.
"Everyone who knows or may know something about the subject of the investigation will be interviewed," said Cvitan.
Sanader was arrested near Salzburg on Friday on an international warrant issued by Croatia. He left Croatia the previous morning before parliament stripped him of immunity from prosecution. USKOK suspects him of conspiracy to commit crime and of abuse of office in the case of the marketing agency Fimi Media and in the illegal sale of electricity by the state-owned power company HEP to the petrochemical company Dioki.
Sanader was brought before an investigating judge in Salzburg for a second time on Sunday, pleading not guilty to what Croatia is accusing him of, Austrian news agency APA said citing Sanader's Vienna-based attorney Werner Suppan.
He said it was "practically impossible" for Sanader to be extradited to Croatia before another hearing due to be held in a fortnight.
Suppan said the former PM "is genuinely interested in cooperating with the Croatian authorities" and that he claimed he had not been running away.
The Salzburg prosecutor's office is still waiting for the case file on Sanader to arrive from Croatia, APA said, adding that spokeswoman Barbara Feichtinger said she expected the documents by Tuesday at the latest. That day the prosecutor's office is expected to hold a press conference.
