CRIMINAL CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST ANKICA LEPEJ AND ROBERT HORVAT

ZAGREB, Nov 16 (Hina) - The Zagreb Municipal State Attorney's Office on Monday lodged a request for investigative procedures against Ankica Lepej and Robert Horvat. The request was submitted regarding the offence of releasing confidential information and unauthorised access to information. Criminal charges against Ankica Lepej and Robert Horvat were raised by the "Zagrebacka banka", where the two were employed. The request for investigative procedures have resulted following a police enquiry and criminal charges being lodged by the commercial crime section of the Zagreb police. The senior employee of the "Zagrebacka banka", Ankica Lepej publicly released information about the state of the foreign currency bank account held by Croatian President's wife, Ankica Tudjman. The information released was published in a Zagreb daily, "Jutarnji list" on October 17. The bank offered a reward of about $US600,000 for information leading to the offender. Two days later, Ankica Lepej herself admitted to the offence. Robert Horvat, verified the information that the president's wife had deposited 210,000 Deutsch marks and $US15,740 to her account. Both employees were immediately fired from the bank. The two face jail sentences from one to five years if sentenced for the offence. (hina) sp