Mamić seems to be happy with Modrić, who changed his earlier statements somewhat…
After a month’s pause, the trial of Croatian football boss Zdravko Mamić, his brother Zoran Mamić, former director of Dinamo Football Club Damir Vrbanović and employee of the Tax Administration Milan Pernar has continued at the County Court in Osijek, reports N1 on June 13, 2017.
Today’s witness was Luka Modrić, who used to play for Dinamo before moving to Tottenham. He confirmed that part of the transfer fee to Tottenham was paid to him as well, in addition to the club.
Asked by prosecutor Tonči Petković of how the money from his transfer to Tottenham was split, Modrić replied that, after Tottenham had paid the fee to Dinamo, half of that amount went to his bank account. He would then take some of the money out and pay it to Zdravko Mamić, by handing cash to Mamić’s brother or son.
Modrić said that the payment was the result of an annex to an agreement he signed with Dinamo, and the annex contained the provision about the 50-50 split between him and the club. He said that he signed related annexes repeatedly since the start of the career when he signed his first professional contract.
“I went to Tottenham for about 21 million euros, and I received a part of that transfer fee. This payment was made on the basis of an annex I signed with Dinamo on the 50-50 basis. That is what I talked about with Mr. Mamić”, he said. Still, he added that he did not receive a copy of the annex, as opposed to the contract itself which he had with him.
A somewhat confusing situation occurred with regards to the date on which Modrić signed the aforementioned annex. Modrić could not remember why there was a difference in dates. Prosecutor Tonči Petkovic presented Modrić the annex with the date of 10 July 2004. “Yes, I signed it. I think I signed it when I left Dinamo in 2008,” said Modrić. Asked why the date of 10 July 2004 was written on the annex, Modrić stated that, when he was leaving Dinamo, under an earlier contract, money from the transfer was supposed to go abroad, but he allegedly insisted on money going to Croatia.
After this statement, Zdravko Mamić was rather upset, stood up nervously and repeated that Modrić had already answered the question twice, while Mamić’s lawyer Čedo Prodanović said the witness was confused. Mamić received a warning from the judge. “If you stand up once again, I will punish you. You are obstructing the proceedings, confusing the witness, creating a mess,” the judge stated to Mamić.
“I could get ten years in prison,” exclaimed Mamić, and the judge replied, “I know what you could get, but that does not give you the right to act like this.”
The prosecution also presented Modrić with an earlier statement of his own in which he admitted that the annex was actually signed after he had already been transferred to Tottenham. “I have never said that,” replied Modrić. “When speaking about that, I was talking about a personal contract between Mamić and me, which regulated the split of the transfer fee,” said Modrić. He stated that he did not receive a copy of the personal contract with Mamić, which was allegedly signed “somewhere in Sesvete, in an office, probably at a public notary.”
He would take the money from his bank account on the basis of the contract, and hand it over to Mamić’s son or brother.
After the trial, Mamić gave a statement. “Luka is an honest man. I feel better after this testimony.”
The Mamić brothers, Pernar and Vrbanović, are charged with damaging Dinamo in the amount of just less than 116 million kunas, and the state budget for 12 million kunas.
Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren is expected as a witness at the trial as well. He will testify about his 2008 transfer from Dinamo to Lyon.
