Stjepan Leko and Vlado Mandic have been remanded in 30-day custody as part of the investigation into illegal gas sales at Ina, while Damir Skugor will remain in extended custody so that more witnesses can be interviewed, a Zagreb County Court investigating judge ruled on Tuesday.

Skugor is a former executive at the Ina oil and gas company, Leko was his deputy, and Mandic is the CEO of the EVN Croatia Plin gas company. Leko was remanded in custody so that he would not attempt to exert his influence on six witnesses, while Mandić was remanded to prevent him from interfering with witnesses and repeating the crime he is suspected of.

The judge extended custody for Skugor a day before his release because more witnesses needed to be interviewed as part of the new line of inquiry that led to the arrests of Leko and Mandic.

The police initially arrested Skugor, his father Dane, the head of the national bar association, laywer Josip Surjak, his business partner Husic, and the former director of Plinara Istocne Slavonije regional gas distributor company, Marija Ratkic. They are suspected of defrauding Ina of more than 1 billion kuna (€133 million) by buying gas from Ina for €19.5 and then reselling it for as much as €210 per megawatt-hour.

Skugor and Husic are still in custody, while the others have been released.

(€1 = 7.52 kuna)