ZAGREB, March 21, 2018 - Long-standing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) official and former Speaker of Parliament Vladimir Šeks said on Wednesday at the trial of former prime minister Ivo Sanader and the HDZ in the Fimi Media case that he had never heard about slush funds or cash payments in the party, and blamed the then party secretary general Ivan Jarnjak for the trial against the HDZ, saying that Jarnjak accused the party to "remove any and all responsibility from himself."
Šeks said that Jarnjak testified against the party and Sanader, although Sanader had saved him from the ICTY's prosecution several years earlier. Taking the witness stand, Šeks recalled Sanader's conversation with the then ICTY prosecutor Carla del Ponte whom he asked not to launch proceedings against general Ante Gotovina.
"After she said this was out of the question, Jarnjak wanted to know about himself. Del Ponte said they had nothing on Jarnjak. This was on speakerphone. Sanader spoke in Italian and translated the highlights for us," Šeks said. "He was very grateful to Sanader and swore his loyalty to him and in the end he turned on Sanader and accused him and the HDZ," said Šeks, who testified as a witness for the defence.
Šeks said that when he and Sanader started spending time together in 1992, Sanader left the impression of a well-off man, with a nice apartment, a car, an art collection. Šeks said that over the years he and Sanader had their differences which they had successfully overcome.
Apart from Sanader, also standing trial in the Fimi Media case are former HDZ treasurer and director of the Customs Administration Mladen Barišić, Fimi Media owner Nevenka Jurak, former HDZ chief accountant Branka Pavošević, and former HDZ and government spokesman Ratko Maček.
At the start of the retrial, ordered by the Supreme Court, the defendants refuted the charges of money siphoning via the Fimi Media advertising agency.
