Joerg Schuster, a former management board member of Austria's Hypo Bank, said at the trial of former Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader in Zagreb on Thursday that it was inconceivable in Austria that a commission should be paid for granting a loan to a state or its institutions.
"That's why I think it is impossible that a commission was paid in this case," the witness told the Zagreb County Court.
In 1995, when Hypo Bank granted a loan to Croatia to purchase buildings for its embassies, Schuster was responsible for securities, staff and loans in Austria. He did not work on the loan that was granted to the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"I thought it was a good deal for the bank because it was the first time that we had entered into a loan transaction abroad, with a new European state as our partner," Schuster said.
Sanader is charged with war profiteering because he allegedly received a commission from Hypo Bank after it granted a loan to Croatia in 1995 for the purchase of buildings for its embassies. Sanader served as deputy foreign minister at the time.
The witness said that he and the former CEO of Hypo Bank, Wolfgang Kulterer, had met with Sanader five or six times in Austria or in his office in Zagreb. He repeated several times that the meetings had taken place after the loan was granted and that they had not discussed the loan but talked about business, politics and Sanader's studies in Austria.
However, when presented with his statement to Croatian investigators dating from last November, which showed that the meetings in question had been held before the loan was approved, Schuster said he did not remember everything that had happened 17 years ago.
"I don't know exactly what I said in 1995, but I can't see why it's relevant. The fact is that Croatia was granted a loan and that it received the loan amount," the witness said, insisting that his statements were not contradictory because the meetings did not discuss any loan terms, safeguards or time frames.
Schuster claimed that he first heard of a person named Eugen Laxa last year during his interview with Croatian investigators, even though the case file contains a letter that was addressed to him and signed by Laxa and a payment slip with Schuster's signature on it issued in Laxa's name.
Responding to questions from Sanader's defence, Schuster said he knew that Sanader and his superior at the time had personal loans with the bank, adding that it was "totally common".
When Judge Ivan Turudic noted that Sanader and Foreign Minister Mate Granic were in conflict of interest in that case, Schuster said that if he had been them, he never would have taken out such a loan.
Sanader objected to this statement, insisting that he never took out a loan from Hypo Bank.
