The indictment accuses Sanader of accepting bribes in exchange for arranging a loan to Croatia from Austria’s bank Hypo Alpe Adria.
The proceedings against him, initiated by his successor Jadranka Kosor, are widely seen as a necessary step toward membership in the European Union. Anti-corruption efforts remain a top priority even after the signing of an accession agreement with the EU in June.
“Sanader is accused of taking a provision for participation in striking a loan deal with Hypo bank in 1995 and for facilitating the bank’s access to the Croatian market. Sanader thus illegally acquired funds worth 3.7 million kuna (approximately €EUR 500,000),” the Croatian State Attorney's office said in a press release.
Sanader, the highest official to face corruption charges since the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991, also stands accused of taking a €10 million bribe from a Hungarian oil refiner in exchange for allowing Hungarian firm MOL to assume control of the Croatian oil company INA. He denied the charges today in court, and said top officials including Kosor, where apprised of his actions and approved of them at the time.
The former Prime Minister was questioned today at the Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime at the Remetinec jail near Zagreb, where he has been held since extradition from Austria in July.
There are six investigations pending against him, including a probe into whether or not he tried to set up a slush fund to siphon government money into the coffers of his political party. The deputy prime minister in Sanader’s cabinet as well as the party’s treasurer and accountant have been arrested in conjunction with that investigation.
Sanader served as Prime Minister from 2003 until his resignation in July 2009. He was arrested in Austria in December and extradited to Croatia in July.
