"It is not true that during the interview with Hrvoje Petrac Croatian investigators obtained any lead about Ante Gotovina's whereabouts, and consequently they could not get information that he was staying in Spain, which was stated in the article," read a press release issued by the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor on Friday afternoon.
"It is also not true that during that interview the Croatian investigators got the number of a cellular phone or any other phone belonging to Ante Gotovina," the press release read.
Guardian quoted a source from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia as saying that Croatian investigators provided ICTY colleagues with key information leading to the fugitive general's apprehension in Spain.
"The suspect had been traced to Spain and then the Canary Islands over the past two months after the Croatian government obtained details of his whereabouts, including his mobile telephone number, and passed them on to the tribunal's investigators," the daily reports.
"A crucial figure (...), Hrvoje Petrac, said to be a linchpin of the Croatian underworld, was arrested in Greece this summer and questioned by Croatian detectives in September. They supplied tribunal investigators with the information that led to yesterday's arrest," the Guardian reported among other things.