Since all three are already charged in the Spice case, in which the first indictee is former Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec, the new trial will be joined with the one already under way at the county court for wrongdoing in which Podravka was defrauded of HRK 400 million.
The prosecution alleges that the HRK 17 million siphoned from the Fima Group was paid by Podravka through transactions related to the purchase of shares in the Spice case. Marinac and Romac are charged with taking over the amount in cash in September 2007, although it appears that several other unidentified persons also took cuts.
Under the indictment, the wrongdoing took place in the summer of 2007 when Fima Group's Maltese branch acquired a 10.64 per cent interest in Podravka and decided to borrow EUR 26.7 million from Merrill Lynch in London to buy the stock. After the loan was realised and the liabilities were settled, there remained a surplus in Fima's account, and Romac and Marinac asked HRK 17 million from Horvat.
Jutarnji List daily reported last April that Horvat confirmed the suspicions, saying Romac had told him he was asking for the money on behalf of the then ruling HDZ party.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.5)