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Dejan Lovren charged with perjury in Croatia

Dejan Lovren charged with perjury in Croatia
Dejan Lovren

Dejan Lovren has been charged with perjury after being accused of providing false information during the trial of one of the most powerful men in Croatian football.

Zdravko Mamic, formerly chief executive at Dinamo Zagreb, his brother and two others were charged with avoiding paying 12.2m kuna (£1.45m) in tax and diverting 116m kuna (£13.85m) from the club. All four denied the charges.

Lovren, along with fellow former Dinamo player Luka Modric, was called to give evidence at the trial in Croatia last year.

However, Modric was charged with providing false evidence during the trial in March, and Lovren has now been accused of the same offence, according to the attorney’s office in the city of Osijek.

Mamic and the other three individuals allegedly embezzled funds from Dinamo during transfers involving their players moving to foreign clubs.

Modric told a court there had been an agreement with Mamic to pay Dinamo half of the £16.5m transfer fee when he joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2008, but prosecutors say there was no such contract.

Mamic was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for the offences, but fled to neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina.

A conviction of false testimony in Croatia brings a jail term between six months and five years.

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