The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has refused Croatia's extradition request for former Dinamo Zagreb Football Club head, Zdravko Mamic, regarding a new investigation against him for bribing Osijek County Court judges who sentenced him in a previous case to six and a half years' imprisonment.

“Formally we have not yet received a written judgment from the court, but we have unofficial information that Croatia’s request has been rejected,” Mamic’s defence team said.

The defence said they had expected such a ruling after both they and the prosecution said at the extradition hearing held before the State Court in August that there were no grounds for the Croatian request to be granted.

Croatia asked for his extradition after Mamic provided the authorities with a video showing three Osijek County Court judges accepting bribes from him. The judges had previously convicted him for siphoning money from Dinamo, and Mamic alleged that they had extorted money from him.

Based on an order by the Croatian anti-corruption office USKOK, Osijek County Court judges Zvonko Vekic, Darko Kruslin and Ante Kvesic were arrested after Mamic accused them of corruption, and were suspended pending completion of the disciplinary proceedings. Drago Tadic, who acted as a go-between, was also arrested.

In March this year, the Croatian Supreme Court upheld the prison sentence of six and a half years against Mamic for siphoning money from Dinamo, while reducing the sentence for his brother, Zoran Mamic, to four years and eight months. Both Zdravko and Zoran Mamic have since fled to Bosnia and Herzegovina to avoid imprisonment.