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(Luxembourg, 12 September 2025) – Today, the County Court of Zagreb (Croatia) convicted the owner of a company involved in the investigation into the purchase of an information system by the Ministry for Regional Development and EU Funds (MRRFEU). Three months ago, the former minister of the MRRFEU was sentenced to two years of imprisonment in the same case.
As previously reported, the former minister, the former director of Croatia’s Central Finance and Contracting Agency (SAFU) and two business owners, along with their respective businesses, were accused of abuse of office and authority and of trading in influence.
In 2017, the former minister launched a public procurement procedure for an information system and took actions to ensure a privileged position for one of the accused business owners and his companies. She inflated the estimated value of the procurement and decided to conduct a negotiated procurement procedure without publishing a public invitation to tender. That business owners’ companies were then invited to submit their bids, and the contract was eventually awarded to them at an unrealistically high price of €1.73 million.
When, in October 2017, the Croatian State Commission for the Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures annulled the public procurement procedure due to the breach of the law on public procurement, the today convicted business owner, together with the former minister and the other business owner, persisted during 2018 in taking actions aimed at having the contract awarded to the companies linked to the two businessmen.
The contract was eventually concluded and the convicted business owner gained approximately €272 000, to the detriment of the financial interests of the EU and the Republic of Croatia. He has been sentenced to 11 months of imprisonment, which were exchanged for community service.
The verdict is the result of a plea bargain, as the convicted pleaded guilty to all charges and prior to the signing of the plea bargain, he had paid €272 000 as a recovery of the undue pecuniary gain, which does not exclude the claimants’ right to claim, in separate proceedings, a compensation for other damage according to the principle of joint and several liability.
The criminal proceedings against the two remaining defendants – the former director of SAFU and the other business owner – are still ongoing.
The EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.
Hrvatska: Donesena još jedna osuđujuća presuda u predmetu vezanom uz nabavu softvera Ministarstva regionalnoga razvoja i EU fondova
(Luxembourg, 12. rujna 2025.) – Danas je Županijski sud u Zagrebu (Hrvatska) donio osuđujuću presudu protiv vlasnika trgovačkog društva obuhvaćenog istragom o nabavi informacijskog sustava Ministarstva regionalnoga razvoja i EU fondova (MRRFEU). Prije tri mjeseca je, u istom je predmetu, bivša ministrica MRRFEU-a osuđena na dvije godine zatvora.
Kako je prethodno izviješteno, bivša ministrica, bivši ravnatelj hrvatske Središnje agencije za financiranje i ugovaranje (SAFU) i dva vlasnika trgovačkih društava, zajedno s njihovim društvima, optuženi su zbog kaznenih djela zlouporabe položaja i ovlasti i trgovanja utjecajem.
Tijekom 2017. godine, bivša je ministrica pokrenula postupak javne nabave za informacijski sustav, te je poduzimala radnje kako bi jednom o optuženih poduzetnika i njegovim trgovačkim društvima osigurala povlašteni položaj. Neosnovano je povećala procijenjenu vrijednost nabave i odlučila provesti pregovarački postupak nabave bez objave javnog poziva. Potom su društva toga poduzetnika pozvana da dostave svoje ponude, te im je na kraju dodijeljen ugovor po nerealno visokoj cijeni od 1,73 milijuna eura.
Nakon što je u listopadu 2017. godine Državna komisija za kontrolu postupaka javne nabave poništila postupak javne nabave zbog kršenja zakona o javnoj nabavi, danas presuđeni vlasnik trgovačkog društva je, zajedno s bivšom ministricom i drugim poduzetnikom, nastavio i 2018. poduzimati radnje s ciljem dodijele ugovora tvrtkama povezanim s tom dvojicom poduzetnika.
Ugovor je na kraju sklopljen, a presuđeni vlasnik trgovačkog društva je pribavio korist u iznosu od približno 272 000 eura, na štetu financijskih interesa Europske unije i Republike Hrvatske. Presuđen je na 11 mjeseci zatvora, koja je kazna zamijenjena radom za opće dobro.
Presuda je rezultat sporazuma stranaka, budući da je osuđenik priznao krivnju za sve optužbe, a prije potpisivanja sporazuma uplatio je 272 000 eura na ime povrata nepripadno pribavljene imovinske koristi, što ne isključuje pravo vjerovnika da u posebnom postupku potražuje naknadu ostale štete prema principu solidarne odgovornosti.
Kazneni postupak protiv preostala dva okrivljenika – bivšeg ravnatelja SAFU-a i drugog vlasnika trgovačkog društva – još je u tijeku.
EPPO je neovisan ured javnog tužitelja Europske unije. Odgovoran je za istragu, kazneni progon i podizanje optužnice za kaznena djela protiv financijskih interesa Unije.