(ANSA-AFP) - ZAGREB, 13 NOV - A Croatian court on Friday
sentenced former prime minister Ivo Sanader to eight years in
jail for syphoning millions of euros from public funds in a
long-running corruption case. Sanader, who led Croatia into NATO
during his 2003-2009 spell in office, organised a plot with
other officials to "acquire significant financial gain" for
himself and to finance their HDZ party, which was also accused
in the case, the Zagreb court ruled. Sanader directed
embezzlement involving illegal donations and fictitious deals
involving state-run firms, according to the verdict. The former
prime minister, currently serving a prison sentence for another
corruption case, will also be required to pay 15.8 million kunas
(two million euros, $2.5 million) once the verdict becomes
final. The conservative HDZ, which is still in power, was
"responsible" for the crime and must pay some two million euros
to the state budget, judge Irena Kvaternik said. Of three other
HDZ officials on trial, two were convicted and jailed and the
other was acquitted. The party said in a statement it rejected
"any collective responsibility" and said it would appeal the
ruling. Sanader was first sentenced to nine years in jail for
this case in 2014, in what was the first trial of its kind
against a Croatian political party. But the top court scrapped
the ruling citing violations of criminal proceedings. During the
retrial all the defendants pleaded not guilty. Since 2019
Sanader has been serving a six-year sentence for a separate
corruption conviction and faces a slew of other allegations. The
67-year-old did not attend Friday's hearing as he is recovering
from surgery. (ANSA-AFP).
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