The cantonal court president, Mladen Jurisic, said today that he had confirmed the indictment and that the defendants could lodge appeals in the next 15 days.
The indictment, issued in late January, alleges that Covic and other members of the supervisory and management boards of the now defunct Croatian Post and Telecommunications (HPT) Mostar illegally transferred a 51 percent interest in the mobile operator Eronet, owned by the country's Croat-Muslim entity, the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, to three private firms.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina quashed the decision, returning the Eronet shares to HT Mostar.
The Federation is the majority owner of HT Mostar, holding 50.10 percent of its stock. T-HT holds a 39.10 percent and the Hrvatska Posta postal service has an interest of 5.23 per cent. Small shareholders hold a 5.57 per cent interest.
Covic, who used to be the HPT-Mostar supervisory board chairman, recently dismissed claims about his involvement in wrongdoings.
The Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina has acquitted Covic of another two cases of white-collar crime, one concerning the irregular allocation of flats and the other the exemption of meat imports from customs duties. The acquittals are non-final.