ZAGREB, May 28, 2018 – The USKOK anti-corruption office on Monday recommended that former Dinamo football club boss Zdravko Mamić, his brother Zoran, former Dinamo director Damir Vrbanović and tax official Milan Pernar be found guilty of siphoning about 116 million kuna from the club and defrauding the state budget of about 12.2 million kuna in unpaid taxes and surtaxes and sentenced to unconditional imprisonment.
In his closing statement in this case, USKOK’s deputy director Sven Mišković underscored that the accused had on several occasions denied the charges but also refused to reply to the prosecution’s questions. He said that, after questioning 97 witnesses and examining documentation, accounts and other evidence, the prosecution was of the view that the accused were guilty as charged.
Another deputy director at USKOK, Tonći Petković, said that it is not contentious that the club gives the players the right to share their transfer money, what is disputable however and illegal is when that right is given formally and only after the players had already left the club to play abroad, after which the players transferred that money to the accused Mamić brothers.
The prosecution claims that the evidence proved that Dejan Lovren immediately forwarded the entire transfer amount to Zoran Mamić’s account while Luka Modrić handed over most of his transfer money to Zdravko Mamić and members of his family.
Petković underscored that Dinamo approved 24 million kuna in loans to Zoran Mamić which he never paid back until the Tax Administration entered the club. He repaid them on 7 March 2011 from money that Dinamo paid Dejan Lovren that same day. Namely Lovren was paid out transfer compensation, who then in turn deposited that money into Zoran Mamić’s account also opened that same day.
The prosecution argued that Lovren did not have the right to share that compensation when he left the club as no one was in possession of any such document requesting that. The Dinamo club further received one million euro of transfer money from Lyon for Lovren and he never asked for that money to be shared even though he was formally entitled to do so, which all proves that these deals were illegal.
An annex to Lovren’s contract was subsequently backdated and Lovren’s signature was forged on other documents too, the prosecution argued. Petković added that annexes to Luka Modrić’s transfer contract too were backdated and his signature was forged.
Similar contentious transfer contracts were drawn up for other players including Eduardo da Silva, Ivan Bošnjak and Goran Ljubojević, but none of them were paid their share of the transfer money even though they transferred to foreign clubs and were entitled to that, Petković said.
“It is clear that Zdravko Mamić completely privatised the Dinamo football club and these actions were aimed at acquiring unlawful gain for himself and his family to the detriment of the Dinamo football club,” Petković said.
Mišković claimed that Pernar should have noticed the disparity in revenue and assets owned by Zoran Mamić and charged the appropriate tax, hence the taxation administration was defrauded of more than 24 million kuna.
He recalled that Zoran Mamić had paid tens of millions of kuna in that period even though his accounts were blocked for several million kuna and were under distress imposed by the Taxation Administration.
Pernar reduced a tax bill for Zoran Mamic by 900,000 kuna even though the High Administration Court ruling ordered that the tax bill be reduced by 50,000 kuna.
The trial will continue with the defence presenting its closing statement.
