A Croatian court on Tuesday sentenced former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader 10 years in prison for corruption.

Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader listens to the reading of a judgment at a Croatian court in Zagreb, 20 November 2012. [Photo: CFP]

The Zagreb County Court convicted Sanader of using his official posts from becoming deputy foreign minister to prime minister for his own private interests during 1994 to 2008. He maintained a right to appeal.

The panel of judges said Sanader, 58, received a commission of 3.6 million Kuna (about 660,000 U.S. dollars) from an Austrian bank Hypo Alpe Adria in 1994 to facilitate its entry into Croatian financial market. The act qualified as war profiteering because at that time Croatia was at war.

Sanader, who was prime minister from Dec. 2003 to July 2009 of the Balcan country, was also found guilty of taking 5 million euros (about 6.8 million dollars) in bribes from the Hungarian oil company MOL to ensure it a dominant position in the Croatian oil company INA.

The panel of judges also ordered him to pay back 3.6 million kunas to the Croatian state within 15 days.

After the announcement of sentence Sanader was immediately taken to Remetinec prison. His lawyers said they would appeal.

According to the Croatian Bureau for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK), Sanader was facing other anti-corruption investigations.

The trial of the former prime minister began in Oct, 2011 after he was extradited to Croatia in July that year. He fled to Austria earlier and arrested there in Dec. 2010.

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