According to the indictment, the HDZ took 31.6 million kuna (US$5.6 million), and Sanader personally got another 15 million kuna (US$2.7 million) during those six years. USKOK named the party’s former Treasurer Mladen Barisic and former government spokesman Ratko Maek.
The 60,000 page indictment also accuses employees of Fimi Media, a public relations firm, of assisting the government officials.
The former prime minister is already on trial for charges that he accepted bribes from the Austrian bank Hypo Alpe Adria in order to facilitate their entry into the Croatian market in 1995, when he was deputy foreign minister. He is also accused of accepting bribes in exchange for selling shares of Croatia’s oil and gas group INA to Hungarian energy firm MOL, giving them an advantage in the market.
Sanader denies all of the charges. He has been held in custody since July, but was due to be released Monday after he was granted US$2.2 million bail last week. After the new indictment was issued on Friday, USKOK requested that Sanader be detained once again.
Zagreb County Court spokesman Kresimir Devcic said that Sanader would not leave Remetinec prison before Monday, but that he would be released “after all conditions are met,” including Sanader’s proof that he could post the bail and a three day appeal window for all parties.
The bail, the highest in Croatia’s history, will be composed of money proffered by Sanader’s friends and former colleagues including his wife Mirjana and outgoing parliament speaker Luka Bebic. Two other persons, including former Dinamo football player Tomo Sokota, offered €300,000 in cash.
