Two of the defendants -- Tatjana Zuzul and Boris Zuzul -- are the wife and the brother of former Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul.
They and the other three defendants -- Ivica Papes, Javorka Babic and Dario Papes -- pleaded not guilty to charges of abuse of office and malfeasance at the start of their trial today.
Boris Zuzul and Javorka Babic, who was the company's financial director, are charged with writing off HRK 2.7 million debt which Tatjana Zuzul and Ivica Pepes had towards the company.
They also allegedly ensured an unlawful gain of HRK 2.7 million through profit tax evasion and are charged with illegal transfers of money between the Sloboda company and the Idis company owned by Sloboda whereby the latter suffered a loss of HRK 6.2 million.
The next hearing was scheduled for May 16 and 17.