Last October, the Split County Prosecutor's Office indicted eight people for abuse of office and money laundering in Brodosplit which defrauded the shipyard of US$ 4.7 million. The first accused is Drago Macek, who at the time relevant to the indictment represented Wessels, a German company which had commissioned four tankers.
The second is Goran Vukasovic, the shipyard's then director, and the third is Ante Luetic, Brodosplit's then sales officer.
Under the indictment, Vukasovic and Luetic committed malfeasance, while Macek incited them to do so. Vukasovic, Luetic, Macek, Mateo Tramontana, Ivica Donko, Ivan Cesarac, Danijel Nikolic and Hrvoje Matovinovic are indicted for money laundering.
The Brodosplit case was uncovered more than four years ago, when Austria issued a warning about money laundering in the Split-based shipyard. The then management board and Wessels had agreed that each of the four tankers would cost $51.5 million, but Vukasovic signed additional letters giving back the client 1.9% of the agreed price in commission. When Wessels paid a $5 million advance, Brodosplit returned $4.7 million into the client's Cypriot accounts. The money was then transferred to a company account in Austria which Macek withdrew and transferred into the other defendants' accounts for laundering.
The County Prosecutor's Office requested an investigation although the police had not pressed charges, believing that no crime had been committed.
The date for the commencement of the trial will be set later.