Zagreb: Interpol has agreed to reactivate an arrest warrant for a Hungarian businessman wanted by Croatia, adding pressure on Budapest following accusations it helped Macedonia's ex-premier Nikola Gruevski to flee, Zagreb said Sunday.
Zsolt Hernadi, the CEO of Hungary's MOL energy group, is being tried in his absence by a court in Zagreb on corruption charges concerning the 2009 purchase of Croatian oil and gas group INA.
Croatia has sought Hernadi's arrest for years, but Hungary refuses to extradite him and succeeded in having him removed from the international policing body's warrant list in 2016.
On Saturday, the organisation's executive board "allowed complete reactivation of Interpol's international arrest warrant" for Hernadi, Croatia's interior ministry said in a statement on its web site.
Questioned by AFP, Interpol said Sunday it could "not confirm nor deny" that Hernadi is now on its wanted list.
The announcement by Croatia raised the ire of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who was put on the spot earlier this week for allegedly having provided protection to Gruevski, sentenced to jail by a Madeconian court for abuse of power.
Gruevski fled, allegedly via Hungary with the government's help.
Orban said an international warrant for Hernadi "would justify stronger action by the Hungarian state that will spoil relations between Croatia and Hungary" -- both European Union member states.
Hungary denies having aided Gruevski's escape, although Albanian police said the former Macedonian strongman, who dominated the Balkan country for nearly a decade until 2016, entered Albania illegally and left in a Hungarian diplomatic car.
Orban has consistently supported Gruevski, an authoritarian right-winger like himself.
The Hungarian government is the main shareholder in MOL, which now has a 49-per cent stake in INA.