As opening a souvenir shop in the HDZ headquarters was out of the question, the idea about "a continued financing of the party" through marketing was born, Barisic said.
After they stopped cooperating with the marketing company owned by former Vjesnik director Franjo Miletic, Barisic, according to his own testimony, came to the idea of hiring Fimi Media, a marketing company owned by his friend who did business for the HDZ in the past but did not send invoices to the party. "At my insistence, it was decided to give as many jobs to the agency as possible and that some of the money be used to finance the HDZ."
Barisic explained that it was Fimi Media's job to get cash, part of which was used to pay service fees, but not through bank accounts. "The practice was to pay for many things in the party partially through bank accounts and the rest in cash, which the party would get from Fimi Media."
Barisic said he had always been very disciplined, loyal and devoted in his job and that he had never done a single thing alone. "I always consulted the president ... Nobody else asked anything. The presidency knew about this and they let me do my job. Everything the president ordered, I did without question and this is how I gained his trust," Barisic said.
He said that as assistant finance minister and customs chief, he was unable to enter the government building with undergoing a security check, a privilege extended only to ministers and state secretaries, adding that he received clearance after warning Sanader it would not be wise to have his bag go through a security scanner.
Barisic said that nobody checked him in Sanader's private residence either, where according to his previous testimony he brought HRK 15 million on two occasions. "Everybody knew me and I don't know if they logged my entry or not," Barisic said, refuting Sanader's claims that Barisic couldn't have brought the money to his house as Sanader's security would have stopped and searched him.
Barisic claims that apart from the money siphoned from Fimi Media, he had also brought to the party money from donations. He said that on one occasion, Marija Primorac brought him a bag containing EUR 300,000.
At the end of his testimony today, Barisic apologised to all those who suffered on account of his wrongdoing.
The trial in Croatia's biggest corruption scandal will continue next week.