A former transport minister and Zadar mayor, Bozidar Kalmeta of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), on Thursday was acquitted of the charges that he and his associates had split among themselves more than HRK 15 million and EUR 850,000 siphoned from road maintenance and construction companies and that he had defrauded the Transport Ministry, however, three of his co-defendants were found guilty of the charges.

A Zagreb County Court panel of judges, presided over by Judge Gordana Mihela Grahovac, handed down a non-final verdict sentencing a state secretary during Kalmeta’s term as Transport Minister, Milivoj Mikulic, who was also a member of the Croatian highway operator HAC’s management board, to three years in prison, while a former HAC and Croatian Roads (HC) executive, Stjepko Boban, was sentenced to two years in prison.

A former member of the Viadukt construction company’s management, Damir Kezele, was sentenced to three and a half years.

All three men will have to pay back the unlawfully acquired gain.

If the verdict becomes final, Mikulic will have to pay back HRK 2.6 million, Kezele HRK 730,000 plus EUR 95,000 from his bank account, while Boban will lose his house in Vizinada.

Contrary to allegations from USKOK anti-corruption office’s indictment, the court found that Kalmeta did not organise the group with the aim of siphoning money from the road operators, which, along with him and the three men who were given non-final verdicts, also included a state secretary and chairman of the HAC Supervisory Board, Zdravko Livakovic, construction companies’ executives Miroslav Bunic and Petar Pecin, and HAC and HC employees Jurica Prskalo, Mario Lovrincevic and Sandro Vukelic, who were all acquitted.

Kalmeta acquitted of charges related to Fimi Media

Kalmeta was also acquitted of the charges that he had defrauded the Transport Ministry while at its helm of HRK 600,000 by ordering the making of a promotional film on the transport renaissance of Croatia from the marketing agency Fimi Media, which is standing trial in separate proceedings on the charges of helping fill the HDZ’s slush fund with money from state institutions and companies.

Kalmeta had dismissed the charges from the start, claiming that he was a victim of political persecution.

The indictment in the case, dubbed “Remorker”, covered three other persons who pleaded guilty and plea-bargained with the prosecution before the start of the trial.

During the investigation into the case, former HAC director Josip Sapunar said he used to take money to Livakovic and Mikulic which HAC’s subcontractors paid into the Austrian bank account of the Czech-based Remorker company owned by Igor Premilovac who like Sapunar, after pleading guilty to USKOK’s charges, plea-bargained with the prosecution and was ordered to return the illegally gained money and do community service. After pleading guilty to the charges, former Viadukt executive Ivan Berket, too, plea-bargained with the prosecution.

A former long-standing director of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), Nadan Vidosevic, is standing trial in separate proceedings that are part of this case.