The County State Attorney’s Office in Osijek filed an indictment against the captain of the Croatia national football team, Luka Modrić, for giving false testimony in the trial of former Dinamo leader Zdravko Mamić.
Luka Modrić is the newest accused in the trial against Zdravko Mamić, who criminally withdrew money from football club Dinamo Zagreb, reports Index.hr and 24 Sata on March 2, 2018.
After an investigation, the State Attorney’s Office in Osijek filed an indictment against Luka Modrić before the Municipal Court in Osijek for committing the criminal offense of giving false testimony in the proceedings against Zdravko Mamić, his family, and associates for withdrawing money from Dinamo via transfer of the player and tax fraud.
In June 2017, Modrić spoke about the division of compensation in his transfer from Dinamo to Tottenham in 2007, his business and citizen connections and contracts with Zdravko Mamić, and how he handed over his share of the damages to the owner’s family.
A year earlier, Modrić spoke about the same details during the USKOK trial, which he seemed to have forgotten about when on trial in Osijek.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v=b5cTBhFUUWY
This is precisely why the famous footballer has been indicted for false testimony today.
The indictment in full:
“After an investigation, the County State Attorney’s Office in Osijek filed an indictment against a Croatian citizen (1985) before the Osijek Municipal Court for committing a criminal offense of giving false testimony under Article 305 (1) of the Criminal Code (2.3.2018.) The defendant is charged that on 13 June 2017 at the Osijek County Court, during the trial of a criminal case against four Croatian nationals for the commission of criminal offenses of abuse of office and powers under Article. 291 para 1 and 2 et al. of the Criminal Code, gave a testimony as a witness after the judge had previously warned him to be truthful and that giving false testimony is a criminal offense, was consciously untruthful that the annexes to the professional football playing contract, which regulates the distribution of the transfer allowance in the proportion of 50:50 percent between him as the player and the club where he played, was signed each time they extended a professional contract and re-signed after leaving to the new club due to the alleged change in the bank account to which the money was to be paid. The defendant is charged with expressing this despite knowing that it does not correspond to the truth, because the aforementioned annexes were signed at the time when he was already playing for the new club, after the contract was concluded between these clubs, whereby the entire amount came to the club.
When the Chamber President presented this part of the record of his examination as a witness who, after completing the examination, confirmed by his signature, the defendant untruthfully stated that in the first examination he was not thinking of dividing the transfer but rather regulating the civil law relationship, and never said that the contract annex which had acquired the right to split the transfer compensation was subsequently signed although he was aware that what he had said at the hearing does not speak to the truth.”
Could this mean a prison sentence of six months and up to five years?
According to Article 305 of the Criminal Code, a witness, expert witness, translator or interpreter who, in the previous criminal procedure, in proceedings before a court, an international court whose jurisdiction the Republic of Croatia accepts by arbitration, misdemeanor, administrative proceedings, proceedings before a notary public or disciplinary proceedings of false testimony, finding or thinking or something falsely translated, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.
Excerpts taken from Index.hr and 24 Sata
