Ex-PM ‘cashed in during war’

FORMER Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader has been charged with taking a commission from a credit deal when deputy foreign minister of the Balkan state in 1990s.

The indictment alleges he abused his position when he took €480,000 (£425,000) for the deal with Austria’s Hypo Alpe Adria bank in 1994-95.

The prosecutor office for organised crime said Croatia was at war at the time, and that Sanader “used the difficult position… to gain financial profit for himself.”

Sanader was the prime minister of Croatia for six years before resigning in 2009. He was extradited to Croatia from Austria in July over the corruption claims.