7 sentenced in Slovenia corruption trial
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — A court in Slovenia has sentenced seven people to up to two and a half years in prison each, concluding one of the biggest ever corruption cases in the small European Union nation.
The District Court in the capital Ljubljana on Friday convicted the group of giving and taking bribes during a 2007 public bidding for construction of the air control tower at the airport.
The trial was closely watched in Slovenia. The defendants included some of the most powerful people in the country, such as construction magnate Ivan Zidar, who was sentenced to 17 months in prison.
Zidar's SCT has maintained influence since the communist-run Yugoslav era, when — among other jobs — it participated in construction of underground bunkers for Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
