Luka Modric has insisted he has not lied or misled a Croatian court in relation to the trial of former Dinamo Zagreb director Zdravko Mamic.
The Real Madrid midfielder faces an investigation into perjury and is suspected of making false statements at a tax fraud trial of his former boss at Dinamo.
“I have come here to present my defence and to tell the truth, as I have done every other time before now,” the 31-year-old told the Osijek court on Wednesday.
“I have a clear conscience; I am convinced that I have not committed any crime.”
Prosecutors in the Eastern city of Osijek believe Modric gave a false statement to a court earlier this year about his 2008 transfer from Dinamo to Tottenham, with cash said to have been embezzled via phoney deals.
If he is found guilty, the former Croatian captain could face anywhere between six months and five years in jail and he has already had murals to him defaced in his home country.
Modric falsely said he had signed an annex to his contract (which set out the terms of future transfer fees) in July 2004, despite reportedly telling investigators in 2015 it had only been signed when he was playing at White Hart Lane.