ZAGREB, Feb 20 (Hina) - A former member of parliament and assistant defence minister, Ljubo Cesic Rojs, and the director of the 'Hrvatski Dragovoljac' soccer club, Stjepan Spajic, on Friday said they were not guilty of embezzling 5.5
million kuna in state funds.
ZAGREB, Feb 20 (Hina) - A former member of parliament and assistant
defence minister, Ljubo Cesic Rojs, and the director of the 'Hrvatski
Dragovoljac' soccer club, Stjepan Spajic, on Friday said they were
not guilty of embezzling 5.5 million kuna in state funds. #L#
The prosecution pressed charges against the two for their alleged
abuse of office and embezzlement. Their trial formally started before
the Zagreb County Court after the State Prosecutor's Office rejected
the request of Cesic's lawyers for the exemption of prosecutor Goran
Markovic whom they suspected of partiality.
After the two indictee entered a not-guilty plea on Friday, the
prosecutors proposed that eight witnesses, including three former
defence ministers -- Andrija Hebrang, Pavao Miljavac and Jozo Rados --
be called to take the witness stand.
In relation to the first count of the indictment which challenges the
legitimacy of the 66th road regiment, Cesic introduced as evidence a
document which he said should prove that this unit was a regular unit
within the Croatian Army. The panel of judges will decide on the
document subsequently after the questioning of witnesses.
Under the second count, Cesic is charged with writing off three
million kuna of a debt of the above-mentioned soccer club. The
indictment alleges that in 1998 Cesic, who was at the time an
assistant defence minister, did this at the incentive of Spajic.
The trial will resume on 14 April.
(Hina) ms sb