Testifying in the trial of Polancec and the seven other indictees, accused of white-collar crime in Podravka, Maletic said that a hostile takeover was discussed by the supervisory board even though that topic was never officially included on the agenda. He added that he could not remember if the board had ever been presented with any documentation related to a hostile takeover.

The defence of the accused in this case is based, among other things, on the argument that they were defending the Koprivnica-based company from a hostile takeover, and not using the company's money to acquire the majority ownership of Podravka, thus defrauding it of 400 million kuna, which is what the prosecution alleges.

Maletic recalled that the Croatian food concern Agrokor and a Norwegian company were mentioned as potential buyers of Podravka. He added that most of the members of Podravka's supervisory board, on which he sat from 2004 to 2009, thought negatively of the possibility of a foreign company taking over Podravka and moving production outside the country.

Maletic answered that he could not remember when asked by the defence if he remembered that Darko Marinac, former chair of Podravka's management and supervisory boards, had mentioned a hostile takeover at a meeting of the supervisory board and that he issued a public letter on the issue.

The witness said that Podravka's loan to the SMS company from Split, whose owner and director Srdjan Mladinic is one of the accused, was part of normal business and a lawful operation.

The trial will continue on Tuesday, when the witness stand will be taken by Goran Gazivoda, a member of Podravka's supervisory board from 2004 to 2008.

Apart from Polancec, the accused in the case are former Podravka executives Darko Marinac, Zdravko Sestak, Josip Pavlovic and Sasa Romac, manager of the SMS company Srdjan Mladinic, Fima Grupa co-owner Milan Horvat and lawyer Zoran Markovic.