Investigation Against Starčević Initiated at the End of June Has Not Yet Become Final

The investigation against former Deputy Chairman of the Croatian Privatization Fund (HFP) Krešimir Starčević and ten other individuals, including several leaders of Hypo Alpe Adria Bank, was initiated at the Zagreb County Court at the end of June, but it has not yet become final, stated the Court’s spokesperson Krešimir Devčić today.

The preliminary council of the Zagreb County Court opened the investigation on June 27, but since the decision has not been delivered to all eleven suspects, the investigation is still not final, Devčić told Hina. He added that some of the suspects appealed after receiving the decision to initiate the investigation, so it is certain that the case will end up in the Supreme Court. However, before that, all suspects must be officially notified about the investigation. Therefore, the case will only be sent to the Supreme Court once all appeals are received, so it cannot yet be said when this will happen, Devčić stated.

The headquarters of HFP in Zagreb.

Starčević is suspected of having approved the sale of shares of the hotel “Alan” from Starigrad to Hypo Alpe Adria Bank in 2002 without the knowledge of the HFP president, in which he has been a board member since 2004. The shares of the Starigrad hotel, valued at more than 27 million kuna, were allegedly sold to the bank for only 8.8 million kuna without the knowledge of the then president of HFP. In addition to Starčević, the investigation also involves the former head of Hypo Bank in Croatia Karl Heinz Truskaler and three bank proxies Igor Kodžoman, Constantin Cesnovar, and Gerhard Greimer. The suspects also include the director of the hotel “Alan” Mladen Hubzin and members of the Supervisory Board – Kuzman Marasović, Joško Miliša, and Hrvoje Brajdić. Among the suspects are also Zoran Šikić, an assistant for nature protection in the Ministry of Culture, and Ivan Širić.

Starčević is suspected of having concluded a contract for the sale of 91,595 ordinary shares of the hotel Alan to Hypo Bank despite the negative opinion of the HFP Management Board. Truskaller, Kodžoman, Cesnovar, and Greimer are suspected of having sold 87,667 shares of Hotel Alan to the company “Alan tours” from Zadar for 8.8 million kuna in August 2002 without the Fund’s consent. The others are charged with entering into harmful contracts that provided them with illegal profits at the expense of Hotel Alan. The tax administration in Split filed a criminal complaint in August 2005, and the state attorney’s office in Zadar requested the investigation against the eleven in November last year.

Since most of the suspects were reported in Zagreb, the case was transferred to the Zagreb County Court. Investigative judge Ljubica Magdalenić believed that there were not enough elements to initiate an investigation, but her opinion was not shared by the Preliminary Council, which initiated the investigation, Devčić explained. (Hina)