ITALIAN AUTHORITIES APPROVE HAND-OVER OF LJERKA ERCEGOVIC

ZAGREB, March 7 (Hina) - The Italian Justice Ministry has approved the hand-over of Ljerka Ercegovic, former president of the Croatian Postal Bank (HPB) management board, suspected of causing 34 million kuna worth of damage to the HPB through financial mismanagement, the Croatian Justice Ministry said on Wednesday. The Croatian ministry received the decision of the Italian authorities on March 2 through the Zagreb Interpol office and talks on the date and form of the hand-over are underway, Sanja Pirsl, spokeswoman for the Justice Minister, told Hina today. Interior Ministry spokesman Slavko Rako declined to say how far the talks with the Italian police had progressed and when Ercegovic would be handed over, adding he had nothing to add to Pirsl's statement. An international arrest warrant for Ljerka Ercegovic was issued on January 9 this year after the Zagreb police failed to find her at her Zagreb address on several occasions to hand her a court decision on month-long detention. After she learned of the arrest warrant, Ercegovic, at the time in Italy, told some Croatian media it had not been her intention to escape and that she was undergoing medical treatment for increased eye pressure, as well as that she would be back in Croatia "in ten days." However, the Italian police arrested her on January 11 and put her in custody at the Udine prison, after which the Croatian Justice Ministry requested her hand-over. An investigation against the former president of the HPB management board started last summer due to suspicion that at the instigation of media mogul Miroslav Kutle, himself on trial for financial malversation, she caused damage to the bank worth 34 million kuna. In mid-December last year, a court ruled that she be detained and the investigation was extended to include controversial credit transactions between the HPB and some Croatian and Austrian companies. (hina) rml