Croatia Ends Maestro Anti-Corruption Trial

ZAGREB, CROATIA - Two years after the Maestro operation and the arrest of suspects for corruption in the Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP), which Croatian President Stjepan Mesic called the centre of corruption at the time and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader announced its dismissal, an invalid verdict was passed on Friday at Zagreb County Court to two former Fund vice presidents Josip Matanovic and Robert Pesa with co-defendants for accepting graft and abuse in several privatisation cases.

We find out from the courtroom that Matanovic was sentenced to 11 years in prison, while Pesa was sentenced to 2 years.

Attorney Asja Piplovic from Buj was sentenced to one year in prison, her associate Mladen Jandricek to 1 year and 2 months, while Zagreb attorney Juraj Parazajder “got” 3 years in prison.

Apart from the prison sentences, the defendants were fined: Matanovic in the amount of 250,000 euros and 125,000 kuna, while Parazajder was fined 123,000 kuna.

The 1-year secret anti-corruption operation had its pinnacle in mid-June 2007, when six suspects were arrested, including three Fund vice presidents Josip Matanovic, Robert Pesa and Ivan Gotovac.

Two days after the arrest, a court investigation was started, while custody was appointed to the suspects, head of the HFP real estate sales department Igor Petlevski, attorney Asja Piplovic, her associate Mladen Jandricek and Zagreb attorney Juraj Parazajder, while an APB was issued out after Svjetlan Stanic, en entrepreneur from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

It was soon announced that two members of the Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) Josko Kuzmanovic and Mihail Mosnogorski helped reveal the corruption network, who falsely introduced themselves to the suspects, offering graft for various services.