"If I had wanted money, it would have been easier to drink coffee with Zagorec and relieve him of a million euros or two," Petrac told the Zagreb County Court on Friday stating his defence in the trial for the February 2004 abduction of Zagorec's son Tomislav, who was underage at the time.
Petrac reiterated that he and Zagorec had been friends for years and that he managed the property that Zagorec, as assistant minister of defence, could not show publicly. Petrac said he had exchanged old Deutschmark banknotes for new ones and bought houses on the island of Krk and in Zagreb for Zagorec, and had also tried to sell jewels which had arrived at the Defence Ministry as downpayment for the purchase of the S-300 missile system.
Petrac said Zagorec had tried to include him in the transfer of money from a encoded bank account in Austria which could be accessed by former President Franjo Tudjman, Defence Minister Gojko Susak and Finance Minister Jozo Martinovic. Petrac claimed, however, that he did not want to become involved in that.
Speaking of the kidnapping, Petrac said he had been abroad at a previously arranged business meeting. After Zagorec phoned to tell him what had happened, Petrac said he promised he would try to collect the ransom money. However, he said he quickly realised that no bank could pay out 1.5 million euros on such short notice and therefore contacted Ivan Matekovic, the first on the indictment in the retrial for the abduction.
"I realised that that amount could be quickly collected only in Zagreb, from loan sharks on the street," said Petrac.
He added he had also been ready to help Zagorec by taking a loan and putting up his casino Vega as collateral. In the meantime, however, Zagorec found the money himself, Petrac said, adding that they subsequently quarreled for the first time when Zagorec had not told him that his son had been set free. They quarreled again when the police arrested Petrac's son Novica and Zagorec declined to tell the press that Novica had been engaged in collecting the ransom money.