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(Luxembourg, 8 November 2023) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has initiated an investigation against 29 Croatian citizens, detained today at the EPPO’s request, and one company, for suspected subsidy and procurement fraud at the Faculty of Geodesy of the University of Zagreb (Croatia).
Two of the detained suspects are the Dean of the Faculty of Geodesy and a professor at the same faculty, on suspicion of abuse of office and authority, misuse of public procurement procedures, forgery of official documents and money laundering.
The arrests follow investigative activities conducted in cooperation with the Independent Financial Investigation Sector of the Tax Administration of Croatia’s Ministry of Finance and Croatia’s National Police Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (PNUSKOK) – which include searches carried out at the University of Zagreb on 29 June 2023.
It is understood that, during the period between 1 October 2019 and November 2023, the dean and the professor at the Faculty of Geodesy had the task of organising public procurement procedures for goods, services and works related to four projects, all involving the faculty, with a total value of €5 988 300 – 85% of which was financed by EU funds. The four projects concerned: natural disaster risk assessment; a study on climate change; sustainable development of maritime ecosystems; and a survey of cultural heritage buildings that were damaged during an earthquake. It is alleged, however, that the dean and the professor used the funds for their own benefit, obtaining undue pecuniary gain for themselves and others.
According to the investigation, the main suspects obtained the funds by manipulating 28 procurement procedures so that specific companies – small businesses and law firms – were selected. In exchange for selecting those companies, a portion of the distributed funding was returned to the main suspects – either personally, or by paying for works performed on the private properties of the main suspects. In some instances, the companies were not supposed to provide any services, but are understood to have been used to channel funds to the main suspects.
It is understood that other suspects were involved in the procurement procedures by submitting invalid or more expensive bids, in order to ensure that the bids of the favoured companies were selected.
Based on the evidence, after the contracts were awarded, other suspects returned a portion of the money thus paid, personally to the dean and the professor under investigation, and also by paying inauthentic invoices for works performed on their private properties.
The dean and the professor under investigation also conducted procurement procedures for the acquisition of two vehicles, which are understood to have been acquired for the professor’s private use and for another employee of the Faculty of Geodesy. According to the investigation, they also purchased a motor boat with the funds, valued at €598 750, which was not used for the purposes of the projects, and instead was being leased for use in nautical tourism activity.
The dean and the professor under investigation are also suspected of submitting false travel expenses and daily allowances for themselves and 11 members of project research teams and expert associates, on at least 317 separate occasions, for travel that did not take place.
The total estimated damage is €2 073 514.46, of which the damage to the EU budget is €1 715 017.32.
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: 29 osumnjičenika uhićeno u istrazi na Sveučilištu u Zagrebu
(Luksemburg, 8. studenoga 2023.) – Ured europskog javnog tužitelja (EPPO) pokrenuo je istragu protiv 29 hrvatskih državljana, koji su danas uhićeni na zahtjev EPPO-a, te jednog trgovačkog društva, zbog sumnje na subvencijsku prijevaru i zlouporabu u postupku javne nabave na Geodetskom fakultetu Sveučilišta u Zagrebu (Hrvatska).
Među uhićenima su dekan Geodetskog fakulteta i profesor istog Fakulteta, zbog sumnje na zlouporabu položaja i ovlasti, zlouporabu u postupku javne nabave, krivotvorenje službene isprave i pranje novca.
Do uhićenja je došlo nakon istražnih radnji provedenih u suradnji sa Samostalnim sektorom za financijske istrage Porezne uprave Ministarstva financija i Nacionalnim policijskim Uredom za suzbijanje korupcije i organiziranog kriminaliteta, koje su uključivale pretrage na Sveučilištu u Zagrebu dana 29. lipnja 2023.
Postoji osnovana sumnja da su u razdoblju od svibnja 2019. do studenoga 2023., dekan i profesor na Geodetskom fakultetu organizirali postupke javne nabave za robe, usluge i radove za četiri projekta ukupne vrijednosti od 5.988.300,00 eura, 85% sufinancirana sredstvima Europske unije. Ta četiri projekta odnosila su se na procjenu rizika od prirodnih katastrofa, studiju o klimatskim promjenama, održivi razvoj morskih ekosustava i snimanje objekata kulturne baštine oštećenih u potresu. Dekan i profesor su postupke javnih nabava organizirali na način da su zlouporabili sredstva projekata i koristili ih za vlastitu korist, pribavivši time sebi i drugima nepripadnu imovinsku korist.
Tako postoji sumnja da su glavni osumnjičenici manipulirali u 28 postupaka nabave kako bi se odabrala određena trgovačka društva, obrti i odvjetnički uredi. U zamjenu za odabir tih društava, odgovorene osobe istih su dio uplaćenog novca vraćali dekanu i profesoru, bilo osobno ili plaćanjem radova izvedenih na njihovim privatnim posjedima. U nekim slučajevima ta društva nisu pružala nikakve usluge, u nekim slučajevima usluge su preplaćene a u nekim su slučajevima javne nabave organizirane na način da ih dobiju točno određena trgovačka društva, obrti ili odvjetnički uredi.
Ostali osumnjičenici su, kako se sumnja, sudjelovali u postupcima nabave na način da su podnosili nevaljane ili skuplje ponude, s ciljem da se odaberu ponude društava kojima se pogodovalo.
Nakon dodjele poslova odnosno ugovora, odgovorne osobe trgovačkih društava, obrta i odvjetničkih društava su dio tako isplaćenog novca vraćali osobno dekanu i profesoru, a također su vršili plaćanja nevjerodostojnih računa za radove izvedene na njihovim privatnim posjedima.
Također postoji osnovana sumnja da su dekan i profesor proveli i postupke nabave za kupnju vozila, čija nabava je također financirana EU sredstvima, a koja vozila nisu korištene za potrebe projekta, već ih je profesor (drugoosumnjičenik) koristio za svoje privatne potrebe te za privatne potrebe jednog drugog zaposlenika Geodetskog fakulteta. Isto tako postoji osnovana sumnja da su EU sredstvima financirali i kupnju motorne brodice, koja nije korištena za svrhe projekta, nego je iznajmljivana u sklopu djelatnosti nautičkog turizma.
Isto tako postoji osnovana sumnja da su dekan i profesor iz istrage prikazivali lažne putne troškove i dnevnice za sebe i 11 članova projektnih istraživačkih timova i stručnih suradnika za putovanja koja nisu obavljena, i to u najmanje 317 navrata.
Ukupna procijenjena šteta je 2.073.514,46 eura, od čega je šteta za proračun EU 1.715.017,32 eura.
EPPO je neovisan ured javnog tužitelja Europske unije, odgovoran je za istragu, kazneni progon i podizanje optužnice za kaznena djela protiv financijskih interesa EU-a.