Ivo Sanader

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Ivo Sanader (born 8 June 1953) is a Croatian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009.

He is to date the longest-serving prime Minister since independence, holding the office for over 5 and a half years before resigning in July 2009.

He is the only Croatian Prime Minister to serve more than one term, winning general elections in 2003 and 2007.

Along with Ivica Racan he is one of only two Prime Ministers to have been at the head of more than one government cabinet, chairing his first cabinet from December 2003 until January 2008 and his second from January 2008 until his resignation in July 2009. Sanader obtained his education in comparative literature in Austria, where he also worked as a journalist, in marketing, publishing and as an entrepreneur.

In the 1990s, he was briefly the intendant of the Croatian National Theatre in Split before becoming Minister for Science and Technology as a member of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in the Cabinet of Hrvoje Šarinic in 1992.

In 1993 he moved into diplomacy and served two terms as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. Following the death of Franjo Tudman, Sanader was elected leader of the HDZ party in 2000 and again in 2002, and led the party to victory in the 2003 and 2007 election, becoming Croatia's Prime Minister.

In June 2009, Sanader abruptly resigned his post, leaving scarce explanation for his actions and disappearing from public life for a while.

In January 2010 Sanader tried to stage a political comeback within the HDZ, but was ejected from party membership. In December 2010, Croatian authorities indicted him in two high-profile corruption cases.

Sanader fled the country but was apprehended in Austria and then extradited to Croatia in July 2011.

In November 2012, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in a first instance verdict, later reduced to ?8 1/2 years.

However, his sentence was annulled by Croatia's Constitutional Court in 2015.

With the exception of numerous Croatian officials who were sentenced to imprisonment during the existence of the socialist Yugoslavia, he is the first Croatian head of government and highest ranking state official to be tried and sentenced to a jail term. On October 22, 2018, Sanader was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for war profiteering and must return $570,000 in kickbacks from Hypo Bank.

Early life

Ivo Sanader was born in Split to a poor, religious, working-class family originating from Dugobabe, a village in the Split hinterland. He was one of five children so, as his family was financially unable to support their education, his mother asked the rector of the Archbishopric Classical Gymnasium to accept Ivo as a student. At the gymnasium, Sanader distinguished himself as one of the top students, excelling in history and languages. After completing high school, Sanader spent one year in Rome studying philosophy. Following his return from Rome he met Mirjana Šarić, whom he married in 1978.

After their wedding, Ivo and Mirjana, and Ivo's younger brother Miro left Split for Innsbruck, Austria. His wife studied archaeology, while Ivo studied comparative literature and Romance languages at the University of Innsbruck. During that time, Sanader worked as a correspondent for the Zagreb sport newspaper Sportske novosti.

In 1982, Sanader received his PhD degree, and returned to Croatia (then Yugoslavia) with his wife. He found a job in the marketing department of Dalmacijaturist (Dalmatia Tourist), for a brief period, followed by a lengthy period at the publishing house Logos from 1983, initially as a program editor. In 1988 he became a chief editor, at one time working on the magazine Mogućnosti (Possibilities). His career at the publishing house was later terminated. At that time, his wife also received a notice of termination from her workplace.

In 1987, Sanader decided to return to Austria with his family, where he co-founded two businesses, one in 1989 which was liquidated by a court in 1992, while the other existed between 1986 and 2001. Failure of his businesses prompted Sanader to enter politics in the 1990s.

Apart from his native Croatian, he is fluent in English, German, French, and Italian.

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Political career

Unlike many prominent figures of Sanader's youth, he was not interested in politics in his younger years, neither as a member of the League of Communists of Croatia (Croatia's government that ruled Yugoslavia), nor as a dissident in exile.

In October 1990, after the multi-party system had returned to Yugoslavia, he founded the Tirol branch of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in Austria, where he first met with Franjo Tuman. Sanader's organizational skills, erudition, and German fluency gave a positive feedback on HDZ members with whom he worked in Austria. He returned to Split despite his wife's resentments over the fact that the war in Croatia was looming. His first public office was in Split, Croatia's National Theatre. He was welcomed by his wife, who worked in Split's University Library, a few weeks after taking the office.

He was elected as an HDZ deputy to the Croatian parliament's lower house in 1992 and then Minister of Science and Technology (1992-1993). He served as a Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 2000, supervising the removal of mandatory visas for Croatian citizens who immigrated to Greece. He also brought people from other Croatian parliamentary parties to the Croatian Democratic Union, using his negotiation skills.

After Hrvoje arini's dismissal from office and the Croatian National Security and Defense Council were released from service at the end of November 1995, he became Chief of Staff of Croatia's cabinet and General Secretary of the Croatian National Security and Defense Council. He became a member of the Council for Cooperation Between Croatia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in January 1996.

He worked to unite Croatia and Israel during his second term as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Hrvoje arini, and Eytan Bentsur, the Israeli government's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, met in Budapest in 1997, the first diplomatic relations between Croatia and Israel were established.

HDZ lost in a parliamentary election in 2000, following Tuman's death. In addition, their candidate, Mate Grani, did not qualify for the second round of the presidential election. Grani was then sent to form the Democratic Centre party in the hopes of attracting moderates from the HDZ. In April, a strong inner-party election in the HDZ ensued, and Sanader emerged victorious as a compromise candidate.

Sanader had sluggish International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indictments against Croatian Army generals, the first indictment against Croatian Army generals. In 2001, he participated in a huge rally opposing a war crimes indictment against general Mirko Norac. Sanader also slammed Ivica Raan and his cabinet's attitude toward the ICTY. He began to distance the party and himself from the demonstrations, gradually withdrawing his criticism towards the government.

Sanader concentrated his efforts on turning the HDZ into a nimble pro-European right-of-center party. However, the more conservative wing of the party led by Ivi Paglio challenged his course. At the 2002 party convention, the ensuing leadership conflict came to an end. Sanader, who was aided by Vladimir eks and Branimir Glava, won his second mandate. Paali left the party to form his Croatian Bloc, but the group was unable to gather many of his former supporters from the HDZ.

Sanader was later charged by Ivan Drmi, a former Croatian Democratic Union member, for rigging the presidential election at the Croatian Democratic Union's 5th convention. Such charges "belong in the anthology of political stupidity," according to a spokesperson for the Croatian Democratic Union Ratko Maek.

At the 2003 parliamentary elections, Sanader was able to concentrate on defeating Ivica Raan and his left-of-centre opposition. HDZ gained the election but did not win a landslide in Sabor.

The Prime Minister of the Republic, Sanader, appointed the Prime Minister-designate on December 9, 2003, following the triumph of his Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Sanader's post-election bid promised the support of ethnic minority leaders, nominally left-wing Croatian Parts of Pensioners, and the Independent Democratic Serb Party. Sanader was officially elected when the Croatian Parliament followed its decision by 88 votes (out of 152 on December 23, 2003).

Croatia's acceptance of the European Union and NATO was the Sanader government's top foreign priority. Croatia is now a leading candidate for joining the European Union as a result of the successful implementation of the Association Agreement, which was signed with the European Union in 2001. The HDZ in Sanader also wanted to establish better links with minority groups and advocate for minority rights. Among the numerous factors contributing to the European Commission's and the European Council's positive assessment of Croatia's potential to become an EU member were, among other things, economic development, and the country's compliance with the country's political and economic criteria established by the 1993 Copenhagen European Council.

In February 2005, Sanader was the last statesman to visit Pope John Paul II in Vatican City, a few weeks before his death on April 2nd, 2005.

Following the formal launch of EU accession talks in October 2005, opinion polls showed Sanader to be Croatia's most popular politician.

Sanader possessed a set of wrist watches worth more than €150,000, which he had not disclosed as assets, according to kare Obolt. Justice Vesna-Obolt's former minister in Sanader was the first to alert Sanader to a conflict of interest commission.

As Prime Minister Sanader, Sanader had close links with other moderately conservative politicians in Europe, including former Austrian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber, former Bavarian Prime Minister Wolfgang Schüssel, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Chief Minister and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. During Sanader's tenure, the cabinet underwent some changes, most notable the departure of foreign minister Miomir uul from the position of conflict of interest. The country's rising tide of Euroskepticism posed a threat to his government.

Sanader was included in the "Verona Affair" in July 2006, where the opposition in the Croatian parliament had accused of arranging the transfer of pharmaceutical company Pliva to Barr Pharmaceuticals from the United States. The allegations were dismissed and never proved.

Sanader was a member of two bankrupt companies in Austria and was paid bribes in 1995 and 1996, according to Nacional, an independent political weekly.

Sanader was the victors in the closely fought 2007 parliamentary election, with the first time of doubt on who gets the mandate to form a coalition, but this time in a coalition with HSS and HSLS.

Owing to a global recession that took place during Sanader's tenure, Croatia's economic growth stalled and foreign direct investment slowed down. Although showing signs of economic recession in other nations, Croatia's demise during Sanader's term was magnified in comparison to Serbia and Montenegro, which saw greater investment as a result of significant reforms. Legal changes in Croatia were suspended under Sanader, and the land registry issue was not addressed. More than 1.3 million court cases (in a world of 4.1 million people) were yet to be decided in 2009.

In 2009, Croatia was supposed to end talks with the EU. However, the talks were postponed for ten months due to Slovenia's blockade of Croatia's EU accession in December 2008. Sanader resigned as Prime Minister and Chairman of the HDZ on July 1, 2009, as well as complete withdrawal from all active politics, saying that he does not want to return. Sanader remarked at his press conference in Zagreb, "There is always a moment in life for a new beginning." Such a time has come, and others are now taking over." According to BBC News, the announcement "came as a surprise" as Croatian media had only recently named Sanader as a potential candidate for the 2010 presidential election. Jadranka Kosor, the Prime Minister's designate, has revealed that he would be deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor. On July 2, 2009, the Croatian Parliament resigned after notifying the President. For life, Sanader was named Honorary President of the HDZ.

Sanader spoke at the World Creative Economic Summit in September 2009, addressing Croatia's transition from a tightly controlled economy to a burgeoning "knowledge-based" economy. This process, according to Sanader, "promoting the "comprehensiness in everyday life" played a significant role.

Sanader's resignation from politics, not a party that wins 12% of the vote, revealed on January 3rd 2010, contrary to his earlier statements (1 July 2009). He was aided by a dozen HDZ MPs, including Luka Bebi, but no one of the government members was involved, but none of the government's representatives. Several of those MPs later denied any affiliation with Sanader and claimed they were deceived.

Following an entire day of HDZ leadership meetings, Ivo Sanader was barred from the Croatian Democratic Union. Out of a total of 22 members of the party's presidency, 16 voted for dismissal, three of whom were against (Luka Bebi, Mario Zubovi and Damir Polan; and two abstained; Bianca Matkovi and Petar Selem). Sanader himself was not present at the meeting.

Sanader revived his parliamentary seat and restored parliamentary privilege in October 2010.

He was seen crossing the Serbian border by his younger daughter Bruna shortly before the Croatian parliament voted to remove his freedom from being investigated by the Croatian Bureau for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime on December 9, 2010. The next day, the Croatian police obtained an arrest warrant and applied to Interpol, demanding that his deposition be investigated for graft allegations. On the tenth of December 2010, he was arrested near Salzburg, Austria. On December 13, Croatian officials frozen his assets and bank accounts, and officially applied for extradition.

Authorities in Austria, including a Carinthian parliamentary committee probing into the more recent Hypo Alpe-Bank International scandal, have questioned Sanader while detained, while USKOK expanded its probe into Sanader to include suspected bribes that were not present in the 1990s, according to USKOK.

Sanader is accused of receiving almost $695,000 (£432,000) from the Austrian Hypo Bank in 1995, which has sparked accusations of war profiteering and receiving 10 million euros in bribes from the CEO of Hungarian oil firm MOL, Zsolt Hernádi, to give MOL a dominant role in the Croatian oil company INA.

By Austria on July 18, 2011, Sanader was extradited. He was taken to Remetinec prison in Zagreb.

At his first court hearing on October 28th, he complained of heart disease, but he denied that he was even aware he was being taken to court. The judge rescheduled, and Sanader was admitted to the hospital after hearing all. He was convicted of $2.2 million on December 16, 2011 after a rescheduled court hearing. Sanader was charged with a new series of misconduct charges in January 2012. Based on a witness statement that Sanader accepted a bribe to guarantee lower electricity prices, USKOK included Sanader in its probe into Croatia's state-owned electric company HEP's financial irregularities, which included damages of $100 million.

Sanader could be charged with graft charges again in May 2012. It was reported that he could have been jailed for ordering the selling of electricity to Dioki Group, a Croatian petrochemical company, at a much cheaper price, which also damaged the state electricity company HEP by several million Kunas. Former Dioki, Ivan Mravak, and Robert Jezic's founders could face allegations as well.

Ivo Sanader was charged for damageing the state budget by 26 million kunas (3.6 million euros) in September 2012. Prosecutors said that Fiolic's company's building was destroyed by selling it to the Ministry of Regional Development at a much higher price than it actually was worth.

According to the latest estimates from Croatian news website Politika Plus from 2012, there has been no damage to the budget as a result of corruption investigations involving Sanader counts, total loss to the budget accounted for at least 207,2 million kuna.

In a first-degree case, Sanader was sentenced to ten years in jail on November 20, 2012. He was Croatia's highest official and had been found guilty of graft. Sanader denied wrongdoing and said that his appeal was motivated by politics. Sanader had disgraced Croatia, according to the judge, who also stated that his office had been used for personal gain rather than for the common good. Sanader was taken from the courthouse to the Remetinec jail.

The Supreme Court of Croatian ruled in June 2014 that the 2012 ruling had been confirmed, but Sanader's prison term was reduced to 8+1 year. Sanader's participation in MOL's acquisition of INA as "high treason," president Ivo Josipovi described it on the occasion.

The decision was overturned by the Constitutional Court in 2015 owing to procedural mistakes made during the trial. He was released after nearly five years in both jail and prison. He is due to face the court for the second time. In another case, he was sentenced to 4+12 in 2017, but the upper courts have yet to determine whether or not they were right.

As a result of a retrial, he was sentenced to 8 years in jail in 2020. He is serving his term at Remetinec jail as of 2021.

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