OSIJEK: Zdravko Mamic, the notorious so-called ‘Godfather of Croatia football’ and ex-ceo of Dinamo Zagreb, has been sentenced to six and a half years in jail for fraud and tax evasion arising out of transfer business.

Two other former senior Dinamo officials and a tax official were also jailed for the same offences. They had all denied charges of tax evasion of €1.9m and for slicing off siphoning off €15.7m from player transfers.

Zdravko Mamic’s brother Zoran Mamic, a former Dinamo coach, was handed a prison sentence of four years and 11 months; Damir Vrbanovic, a senior official in the Croatian federation, was sentenced to three years in prison; and tax officer Milan Pernar was jailed for four years and two months.

None were present in court for sentencing and all four have a right of appeal.

Zdravko Mamic left Croatia earlier this week for Medjugore in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina where he told a media briefing he would remain to avoid an arrest warrant while protesting his innocence.

Mamic has dual Croatian and Bosnian citizenship and under Bosnian law he cannot be extradited but he can serve a jail sentence in Bosnia upon Croatian request if the higher court confirms the sentence.

Zdravko Mamic, 58, was ceo of Dinamo from 2003 to 2016, he combined this function with that of player agent. This allowed him to set up a system by which the players he sold, including Dejan Lovren to Lyon and Luka Modric to Tottenham, would receive a portion of their transfer amount and then return it to him.

Modric, now with Real Madrid, has been charged with perjury.

##############