ZAGREB, May 18, 2019 – A Zagreb County Court panel of judges on Friday rejected a motion filed by the defence for former prime minister Ivo Sanader to release him from investigative custody in the so-called Planinska case.
In their motion, the defence argued that it had not been explained to their client why he was remanded in custody.
Speaking to reporters, defence attorney Jadranka Sloković announced they would file a constitutional complaint.
Sanader was remanded in custody on April 4 after the Supreme Court considered his appeal against the trial court verdict that sentenced him to four and a half years in prison and ordered him to pay back 15 million kuna (2 million euro).
According to unofficial information, the Supreme Court has increased his sentence to six years, and the ruling will be made public only after it has been delivered to the parties involved.
Apart from the former prime minister, the trial chamber in this case also convicted Mladen Mlinarević, for whom it established that he inflated the value of a building in Zagreb’s Planinska Street owned by former HDZ MP and businessman Stjepan Fiolić, from whom the regional development ministry, led by former minister Petar Čobanković, purchased the property in 2009.
Čobanković made a plea bargain with the prosecution before the trial and was sentenced to one year in prison. He did not go to prison but did community service.
Mlinarević and Fiolić were each sentenced to one year’s conditional imprisonment, which was later replaced with community service.
Fiolić admitted that he helped Sanader with the sale of the property based on a forged appraisal and that he brought 10 million kuna and another one million euros (approx. 17 million kuna in total) to Sanader’s home in a cardboard box.
More news about former prime minister Ivo Sanader can be found in the Politics section.
