Croatian Ex-PM's Retrial Set for September

Zagreb county court has scheduled the start of Sanader's retrial for September 7 on charges of abuse of office, war profiteering and bribery.

Sanader's eight-and-a-half-year sentence was revoked by the constitutional court on Monday due to procedural errors.

He had been convicted of receiving an illegal fee in talks between Austria's Hypo Bank and the Croatian government between end of 1994 and March 1995, during the war in the country.

He was also found guilty of receiving a 10 million euro bribe from officials at Hungarian energy company MOL during its acquisition of a share in Croatia's energy company INA in 2008-09.

The constitutional court found that his right to fair trial was breached in both cases.

Regarding the alleged bribery, the court said that Sanader was not defined as "an official or responsible person" under the law and therefore could not have committed the act of bribery as described in the law.

Sanader allegedly met and received a 10 million euro bribe from MOL's chair Zsolt Hernadi in 2008. According to the now annulled verdicts, the bribe was used for signing a controversial management agreement between the Croatian government and MOL in January 2009, which the current government considers both unfavourable and illegal.

Before his trial restarts at Zagreb county court, Sanader will remain in custody, due to a first-degree judgment which sentenced him to nine years in prison for using private marketing companies to siphon off public funds from state institutions and bodies.

His lawyer has said however that in August, Sanader will exceed the maximum legal time one can spend in the custody prison and therefore will be able to go free.

Sanader was initially arrested in Austria in December 2010,...

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