The Supreme Court has quashed the Zagreb County Court ruling which found Vladimir Selebaj-Sellier, his former journalist wife Dijana Culjak and three other defendants guilty of siphoning funds from the Core Media and Media Spot production firms through fictitious accounts.

The highest court ordered a retrial, saying that the operative part of the judgment was contradictory and unclear and the conclusions about the roles of the accused wrong.

Under the Zagreb County Court ruling, Selebaj was sentenced to a suspended sentence of two years and three months in prison and Culjak to a suspended sentence of two years and five months. Both were to stay behind bars for a year, after which their sentences were to be replaced by three years’ probation. Each of them had to pay back HRK 1.6 million, with Selebaj also having to repay HRK 2.8 million of undue gain.

The other defendants in this case are Vlado Bucan, Igor Sumaković and Toncek Mandic. Bucan was sentenced to one year in prison with three years’ probation and ordered to pay back HRK 483,000. Sumakovic was given six months, which was replaced by community service, and Mandic was sentenced to eight months, which was also replaced by community service.