A court in Zagreb on Friday issued a detention order for the chief executive and chairman of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU), Zsolt Hernadi, after he didn't attend a hearing in a corruption investigation, the court's spokesman told The Wall Street Journal.
A court in
Zagreb
on
Friday issued a detention order for the chief executive and chairman of
Hungarian oil and gas company MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU), Zsolt Hernadi, after he
didn't attend a hearing in a corruption investigation, the court's spokesman told
The Wall Street Journal.
Croatia
's
anti-corruption and organized crime bureau, Uskok, had wanted to question Mr.
Hernadi following the 10-year sentence handed down to former Croatian Prime
Minister Ivo Sanader in November for corruption. The charges against Mr.
Sanader included allegedly taking bribes from MOL for granting the company full
management rights over Croatian energy firm INA d.d. (INA.ZG) in 2008. Mr.
Sanader, who denied any wrongdoing during his trial, was in office between 2003
and 2009.
"The Hungarian authorities failed to cooperate [with the investigation],
saying MOL is in their national interest and therefore it is a question of
state security," Kresimir Devcic, the
Zagreb
court
spokesman said. The Hungarian state holds a 24.6% stake in MOL.
The Croatian State attorney's office declined to answer any enquiries on
whether
Croatia
is
starting a process to extradite Mr. Hernadi, who is in
Hungary
.
On Sept. 16 this year,
Hungary
's
Prosecutor General had rejected Uskok's summons for Mr. Hernadi to attend the
hearing.
Uskok had suspended its investigation of Mr. Hernadi in December because he was
out of reach of the Croatian judiciary at that time. But it resumed the
investigation on July 10, after
Croatia
's
accession to the European Union on July 1 provided the conditions necessary to
request Mr. Hernadi to attend a court hearing.
If Mr. Hernadi fails to travel to
Croatia
to
answer questions, the country, as an EU member, can issue a European Arrest
Warrant, Mr. Devcic said.
MOL's general counsel Pal Kara said he has no knowledge of any request from any
Croatian authority for the chairman of MOL to be questioned about the case
involving Mr. Sanader.
"The
Croatian Court
appears to be justifying the issuing of a detention order by an alleged danger
of escape, a claim which is both unreasonable and baseless," Mr. Kara said
in an e-mailed statement. "I regard the whole case as flawed in form and
substance and it appears to be influenced by interests seeking to intimidate
both the company and its chairman."
MOL owns a 49.1% stake in INA and holds management rights, while the Croatian
government owns 44.8%.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Παρ, 26 Ιουλίου 2024 - 16:04
Παρ, 26 Ιουλίου 2024 - 16:02
Τετ, 24 Ιουλίου 2024 - 15:10
Τετ, 24 Ιουλίου 2024 - 15:06
Τρι, 23 Ιουλίου 2024 - 16:51