Sanader's retrial, rejects 'fabricated indictment'

ZAGREB, (Patria) - The retrial in the "Fimi media" case has continued at the Zagreb County Court. The first defendant, former Prime Minister and HDZ president Ivo Sanader, continued to present his defense. He rejects, as he says, the fabricated indictment, and tries to present that HDZ is responsible for everything he is accused of. 

At the beginning of today's hearing, Sanader wanted to deny media reports that he said Ivan Jarnjak had betrayed him. That would mean I am guilty of something. "He falsely accused me," said Sanader, adding that Jarnjak had made up stories. "He shifted what he did onto me," said Sanader, who requested an acquittal, HRT reports, as carried by Patria. 

Gave up talking about political persecution, stood up for HDZ

"I believe I am innocent, that the party is innocent. I assure you as its second president - I believe the party deserved a different treatment, not to be dragged through the courts for 10 years. I gave up talking about political persecution, not because I don't believe in it - but I decided to refute the indictments in a different way," said Sanader.

"It turns out I lived off air until 1992"

Then he spoke about his life in Austria and his return to Croatia in the early 90s and what he did until he was 39 when he was elected to the government. He claims that the "discrepancy in assets of 23 million kuna" occurred because the financial expert report shows that he only worked from 1992, and he says - he has been working since the second half of the seventies. The earnings of his wife and her father were not included either, says Sanader, adding that his and his family's assets have been blocked for 10 years and that he has no way to finance his defense.

He worked as a correspondent for Sportske novosti from Austria, and an editor in a student newspaper. He taught religion, and also worked in a marketing agency, earning about 60,000 euros from it. He also sold Pervan's photographs, and in the nineties he was a co-owner of an export-import company. They also built houses, and by selling his share, he says - he received about a million euros. 

The 'Fimi media' case - a synonym for corruption in Croatia 

The retrial, which began in 2016, was interrupted due to the illness of Nevenka Jurak, the owner of the agency after which the corruption affair was named, in July 2018, when Sanader was supposed to present his defense. Nevenka Jurak has since passed away. Sanader has denied guilt since the beginning of the proceedings and claims to be a victim of a political process initiated by his successor Jadranka Kosor and the then chief state attorney Mladen Bajić.

In addition to Sanader, who was previously unappealably sentenced to nine years in prison in this case and the party fined five million kuna, the defendants also include former party treasurer Mladen Barišić, HDZ cashier Branka Pavošević, and former spokesperson Ratko Maček. Sanader, who is serving a prison sentence for the Planinska case, was unappealably convicted in December for accepting bribes from Hungarian MOL, and in 2018 for a profit commission from the Austrian Hypo bank.