ZAGREB, Nov 12 (Hina) - The trial of two retired Croatian generals, Vladimir Zagorec and Matko Kakarigi, and three other defendants accused of economic wrongdoing at the expense of the Defence Ministry continued on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, Nov 12 (Hina) - The trial of two retired Croatian generals,
Vladimir Zagorec and Matko Kakarigi, and three other defendants
accused of economic wrongdoing at the expense of the Defence
Ministry continued on Tuesday. #L#
The owner of a construction company which renovated defendant Antun
Sporer's country house near Novigrad testified that the
contentious reconstruction began even prior to the signing of a
contract with the Defence Ministry.
The owner of the Dawal construction company, Davor Smolic, told a
Zagreb County Court panel of judges that his company began
reconstructing the house at the beginning of June 1997. Fifteen
days later a contract was signed with the Defence Ministry, dated
September 1.
The witness said that all the houses in the area around Sporer's
house had been devastated, but that only his was reconstructed.
Kakarigi, Vojkovic, and Zagorec, a former defence minister
assistant responsible for equipment and supplies, are charged with
unlawfully enabling the reconstruction of the country house and
tennis courts belonging to Sporer, a former vice president of the
Zagreb City Assembly, who is charged with motivating them to do so.
The press claimed that Sporer was 'rewarded' because in 1997, as a
Croatian Peasants' Party councillor in the Zagreb City Assembly, he
voted for the ruling party at the time, the Croatian Democratic
Union, thus giving the latter party the majority in the assembly.
The trial will continue on Wednesday with the testimony of four
witnesses amongst whom is MP Ljubo Cesic Rojs, who at the time of the
contentious reconstruction was assistant defence minister
responsible for management.
(hina) sp/ha sb