ZAGREB, December 3, 2018 – Zagreb’s County Court has upheld a ruling by Zagreb’s Municipal Court to quash Luka Modrić’s perjury indictment. The Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder was charged with perjury in a trial against former Dinamo football club director Zdravko Mamić before Osijek’s County Court.
Zagreb County Court spokesman Krešimir Devčić said on Monday that the decision made by the municipal court in early October was sustained and thus became final.
The Osijek prosecutorial authorities alleged that despite being warned that perjury is a criminal offence, Modrić gave evidence as a witness at the Mamić trial, his testimony being different from what he had said in an earlier deposition.
At the trial, Modric spoke about financial details of his 2008 transfer from Dinamo to Tottenham. Modrić said that he had a deal with Mamic to pay the club 50 percent of the transfer and that the 2008 transfer was worth between 21 million euro and 23 million euro.
Mamić, his brother Zoran, former Dinamo director Damir Vrbanović and tax agent Milan Pernar were charged with defrauding the club of almost 116 million kuna and the state budget of 12.2 million kuna in unpaid taxes. Mamić was sentenced in June to six and a half years in prison pending appeal but he fled to Bosnia and Herzegovina before his verdict was announced. Since, along with Croatian citizenship, he also holds the citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian authorities have refused to extradite him to Croatia.
For more on the Zdravko Mamić case, click here.
