Kalmeta acquitted, his associates sentenced to prison

(Patria) - After two years of trial, a non-final verdict was announced for corruption against former HDZ minister and mayor of Zadar Božidar Kalmeta and his associates. Kalmeta was acquitted, reports index.hr, as carried by Patria.

The County Court in Zagreb acquitted Kalmeta of charges that he and his associates divided over 15 million kuna and 850,000 euros from companies for road maintenance and construction. Judge Gordana Mihela Grahova read the verdict stating that Kalmeta did not organize a group for committing criminal acts.

Three of his co-defendants and former associates were found guilty.

Former Kalmeta state secretary Milivoj Mikulić, who was also on the board of Croatian Motorways (HAC), was sentenced to three years in prison, while former head of HAC and Croatian Roads (HC) Stjepko Boban was sentenced to two years.

Former member of the Viadukt management Damir Kezele was sentenced to three and a half years, and all three will have to return illegal property gains.

Contrary to the claims in the Uskok indictment, the court concluded that Kalmeta did not organize a group for extracting money, which, according to the prosecution, included, besides him and the three non-finally convicted, the acquitted state secretary and chairman of the HAC Supervisory Board Zdravko Livaković, heads of construction companies Miroslav Bunić and Petar Pečin, and people from HAC and HC Jurica Prskalo, Mario Lovrinčević and Sandro Vukelić.