Croatia: The Sanader Case | European Journal

2011-12-01 18

Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader is on trial for corruption. The case is widely seen as a test of Croatia's anti-graft drive ahead of its accession to the European Union. Sanader is said to have received a bribe of almost half a million euros from the Austrian bank Hypo Group Alpe Adria in the 1990s when he was deputy foreign minister. He is also charged with taking ten million euros in bribes from the Hungarian oil company MOL. The European Union is watching closely to see how serious Croatia is in cracking down on corruption in the run-up to its accession to the EU in 2013.