More hot water for another one of Croatia’s national team players as DORH launches an investigation into Dejan Lovren’s false testimony.
Due to the suspicion that he gave a false witness testimony during the trial of former Dinamo Zagreb head Zdravko Mamić, the Osijek County State Attorney’s Office have launched an investigation against Liverpool footballer and Croatia national team representative Dejan Lovren, giving him notice of the start of an investigation on Monday, reports Index.hr on March 12, 2018. Lovren is on trial as a witness regarding his transfer from Dinamo to Lyon, France in 2010.
Not citing Lovren’s identity, the prosecutor’s office in Osijek announced there is grounded suspicion that on September 1, 2018, as a witness at the Osijek County Court, Dejan Lovren gave false testimony during the trial of Zdravko Mamić, even though the judge advised him that he was obliged to state the truth and that providing false testimony is a criminal offense.
Lovren is under investigation because, as a witness, he knowingly untruthfully stated that he signed an annex in his professional gaming contract with Dinamo that entitled him to 50% of future transfers fees after signing the deal in 2007.
“After submitting the correspondence sent to the parent club dated 1 February 2010, 29 March 2010 and 7 September 2010, requesting payment of 50% of the transfer allowance and containing a signature with his name, there is a reasonable doubt that he consciously misrepresented that he had signed this letter manually,” the prosecution points out.
Lovren stated that he was in Croatia at the time of the payment from the transfer allowance, that he had personally opened a special account at the bank in Zagreb for that purpose and that on the same day the money came to his account, he forwarded it to the bank account of a third person, although prosecutors believed him to be in France at the time.
After being questioned, the Osijek prosecutor’s office advised Lovren of the start of an investigation due to the suspicion that he had committed the criminal offense of giving false testimony.
Otherwise, due to the suspicion that at the same trial Zdravko Mamic, his brother Zoran, former director of Dinamo Damir Vrbanovic and taxpayer Milan Pernar gave false testimony, the prosecution recently issued an indictment against the captain of the Croatia football team and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric for this criminal offense, as well as Modrić’s mother in law Vesna Juraić.
Translated from Index.hr
