DIRECTOR OF CROATIA'S CRAFTS SAVINGS BANK RELEASED FROM PRISON

ZAGREB, March 14 (Hina) - The director of Croatia's First Crafts Savings Bank, Ante Pocrnja, on Wednesday dismissed suspicions before a Zagreb County Court investigating judge that he had caused the bank 14 million kuna worth of damage (some US$1.7 million). Pocrnja was released from prison where he had been taken last night. Presenting his defence for more than three hours, Pocrnja dismissed all claims of the prosecution accusing him of several criminal acts in business operations. Pocrnja confirmed that he had used the bank's credit cards for private purposes but all bills were deducted from his salary, which, he claims, was 60 percent lower in the first year and 50 percent lower over subsequent years so the bank owed him some DM400,000. Pocrnja is suspected, among else, of using the bank's Diners and Master business cards for private purposes without accounting for expenses, thus causing some 248,000 kuna worth of damage to the bank. Pocrnja dismissed the prosecution's claims that he had used the Crafts Savings Bank's deposit as a guarantee for the payment of a credit granted to him by the 'SA-GA' savings bank. Pocrnja said that he had been granted the credit as a physical person and that he had mortgaged his real estate worth DM500,000 for the 650,000 kuna- worth credit (some DM166,666). He also dismissed suspicions that he had knowingly violated business regulations despite a Croatian National Bank ban by making investments into material and non-material assets and signing contracts on the leasing of business facilities in Croatia and Germany. (hina) sb rml