Two other indictees in this case -- Vladimir Soljic and Matan Zaric -- also pleaded not guilty, while the rest of indictees are scheduled to enter a plea in the coming days.
The Supervisory Board of the Croatian Post and Telecommunications (HPT) Mostar company, which Covic headed in 2000, is charged with having illegally transferred Eronet shares from the HPT Mostar to the private companies Croherc, Alpina Komerc and Hercegovina Osiguranje.
HPT Mostar owed the three companies money for remodelling work and the HPT Mostar Supervisory Board approved giving them an interest in Eronet as compensation. Meanwhile, the federal supreme court quashed the decision, returning the Eronet shares to HPT Mostar, which today is the Croatian Telecommunications (HT) company.
At the time relevant to the indictment Covic was the finance minister of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The Federation is the majority owner of HT Mostar, holding 50.10 percent of its stock. T-HT holds a 39.10 percent and the Hrvatska Posta postal service has an interest of 5.23 per cent. Small shareholders hold a 5.57 per cent interest