The Vice President of the Croatian Privatization Fund (HFP) Ivan Gotovac and entrepreneur Svjetlan Stanić were today acquitted of charges of receiving and giving bribes, as well as abuse of position and authority, in the case known as “little maestro” at the Zagreb County Court.
Gotovac was acquitted of the USKOK charge of abusing his position by receiving a roast and a paid trip to Monte Carlo from Stanić as a bribe to favor him in the privatization of Dalmacijavina and the Split hotel Bellevue. The second defendant, Stanić, was accused of giving a bribe and inciting Gotovac to abuse his position and authority to enable him to acquire shares and assets of companies from the Fund’s portfolio under the most favorable conditions.
Stanić, who paid two million kuna bail to defend himself from freedom, did not appear for the pronouncement of the verdict by the judicial panel chaired by Vladimir Pavleković. Gotovac was present in the courtroom. The “Maestro” operation, a police-USKOK secret investigation into corruption in the HFP, peaked in June 2007 when three vice presidents of the Fund and several other individuals were arrested. USKOK filed an indictment in mid-February last year, and alongside Stanić and Gotovac, whose case was subsequently separated, there were eight other defendants on trial before another judicial panel in a case referred to as “big maestro.” (Hina)
