Croatian Ex PM Ivo Sanader Arrested in Austria

Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has been arrested on corruption charges. EPA/BGNES

Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has been arrested in Salzburg, Austria, on charges of corruption and abuse of power.

Sanader's arrest occurred just hours after earlier on Friday the Croatian Prosecutors' Office issued an international warrant for the detention of the ex PM, who has been wanted by Croatia's National Bureau for Fighting Corruption.

In a statement mailed to The Associated Press, Croatian police spokesman Krunoslav Borovec said Austrian police informed them that Sanader was arrested on Friday at 3.50 p.m. (1430 GMT) "in the Salzburg area," as cited by BGNES.

Sanader had left Croatia on Thursday morning, when it became clear that prosecutors want to investigate him on charges of conspiring to commit crime and abuse of office. He crossed into neighboring Slovenia just hours after the Croatian Parliament voted to lift his immunity.

After serving as Croatia's Prime Minister from 2003 till 2009, he resigned 17 months ago. The 57-year-old Sanader will be the first Croatian head of government to be investigated for corruption.

In the recent months the authorities in Zagreb have increased their efforts to investigate corruption and organized crime as the country is hoping to complete shortly its EU accession talks.

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