Dejan Lovren charged with perjury in Zdravko Mamic trial, denies wrongdoing

Luka Modric has already been charged with providing false information regarding this case.

Croatian defender Dejan Lovren has been charged with perjury following accusations regarding him providing false testimony during the trial of Zdravko Mamic. The former Dinamo Zagreb chief executive, his brother and two others were charged with not paying 12.2m kuna (£1.45m) in tax and rerouting 116m kuna (£13.85m) from the club. All of them have denied the charges.

The Liverpool player was called to give evidence along with national team skipper Luka Modric, during the trial in Croatia. Modric has already been charged with providing false evidence during the trial and now even Lovren has been accused of the same offence.

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Mamic and his team allegedly messed around with funds from Dinamo which involved the transfer of players to foreign clubs. According to Modric, he had an agreement with Mamic to pay the club half of his £16.5m transfer fee when he joined Tottenham in 2008. But, according to the prosecutors, there was no such contract.

Mamic had been sentenced to six-and-a-half-years in prison for his offences, but fled to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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Lovren has stated via his Instagram handle that he is innocent. He posted, "After coming from afternoon training, I learned that the media in Croatia and then in England reported the news that an indictment was filed against me for giving a false statement in one case in Croatia. My family, friends and acquaintances told me the same thing. So, before I saw or received the indictment at all and before my attorneys received it, all the media reported the news. This is simply not fair, not just, not sporting. In this way, acting on me and my family is extremely discriminatory and unfair. A fight that is not fair and I’m not used to."

He further added, "But, I want to say this to all, especially to my family, friends, supporters in my homeland, my club and my club’s fans in England, [that I am] innocent. I did not commit any criminal offence. I am proud of my life, every step of my life, everything that my family and I have created. With indignation, I dismiss all accusations and to anyone who wants to ruin my reputation and the reputation of my family, I say it will not succeed."