Skočiť na hlavný obsah
European Union flag
slovenčina
The independent public prosecution office of the EU
Report a crime

Two suspects convicted in Croatia for unlawful favouritism

Published on

Please find Croatian version below

Today, the Country Court in Zagreb issued two convictions, by which two accused persons have been found guilty of unlawful favouritism and aiding the attempted abuse of function and authority. In this investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zagreb, in total 10 Croatian citizens were indicted, out of which five have been convicted so far.

The EPPO has first reported about this investigation of passive and active corruption in May this year and later on in September when the first suspects were convicted.

Today's convictions have found that both accused persons were adjusting the Procurement Documentation in public procurement procedures. Between 2018 and 2021, they changed the technical capacity requirements, bid evaluation, and scoring criteria to secure the assignment of several projects co-financed by the European Union’s Cohesion Fund and the European Regional Development Fund to one company.

The first convict was sentenced to 11 months imprisonment, exchanged for community service, as well as a fine of €26 700 (HRK 200,000.00).

The other convicted person was sentenced to 11 months imprisonment, exchanged for community service, as well as a fine of €13 400 (HRK 100,000.00).

Both verdicts were the result of plea bargains, as the two accused pleaded guilty to all charges. 

 

Background

One of the two convicted persons was adjusting documents pertaining to two projects: the first project (Construction of a recycling yard and procurement of equipment) whose value was HRK 5,401,800.00, out of which €562 000 (HRK 4,219,433.22) were financed by the European Union’s Cohesion Fund. The second project (BIOSOL - Construction of a solar plant) was worth €547 000 (HRK 4,100,000.00), of which 85% were financed from the European Regional Development Fund.

The first project was eventually assigned to a certain company, whose owner gave a €15 000 (HRK 100,000.00) bribe to the Mayor of Nova Gradiška, as a reward for the project. Because of the described accused person's actions, the damage inflicted to the European Cohesion Fund amounted to at least €53 000 (HRK 398,886.04), while the damage inflicted to the City of Nova Gradiška amounted to at least €32 500 (HRK 243,339.11).

As regards the second project, although all necessary steps were taken to make the Decision to select that company, a decision to that effect was not made due to the arrest of all involved accused persons.

The other convicted person was taking actions to adjust the documentation with respect to one project (“Design and reconstruction of the wastewater treatment plant Velika Gorica”) and the construction of the supervisory management system worth €13 000  (HRK 97,365,000.00), out of which 67.34% were financed by the European Union Cohesion Fund.

Although all necessary steps were taken to make the Decision to select that company, and despite the fact that the Public Procurement Documentation was prepared in such a way as to guarantee advantage to that company, such a decision was hindered thanks to the arrest of all involved accused persons.

 

Dvije osobe osuđene u Hrvatskoj za nezakonito pogodovanje

Danas je Županijski sud u Zagrebu donio dvije presude kojima su dvije osobe proglašene krivima za nezakonito pogodovanje i pomaganje u zlouporabi položaja i ovlasti u pokušaju. U ovoj istrazi Ureda europskog javnog tužitelja (EPPO) u Zagrebu optuženo je ukupno 10 hrvatskih državljana,  od kojih je do sada pet osuđeno.

EPPO je prvi put izvijestio o ovoj istrazi pasivne i aktivne korupcije u svibnju ove godine, a zatim u rujnu, kada su osuđeni prvi okrivljenici.

Današnjim osuđujućim presudama utvrđeno je da su obje okrivljene osobe prilagođavale Dokumentaciju o nabavi u postupcima javne nabave. U razdoblju između 2018. i 2021. godine, promijenile su zahtjeve tehničke sposobnosti te kriterije ocjene i bodovanja ponuda, a sve s ciljem da se  jednoj tvrtki dodijeli nekoliko projekata sufinanciranih iz Kohezijskog fonda i Europskog fonda za regionalni razvoj Europske unije.

Prvoj osuđenoj osobi izrečena je kazna zatvora u trajanju od 11 mjeseci, koja je zamijenjena radom za opće dobro, te novčana kazna u iznosu od 26 700 EUR (200 000 kuna).

Drugoj osuđenoj osobi izrečena je kazna zatvora u trajanju od 11 mjeseci, koja je zamijenjena radom za opće dobro, te novčana kazna u iznosu od 13 400 EUR (100 000 kuna).

Obje presude donesene su na temelju sporazuma stranka budući da su obje okrivljenice u cijelosti priznale kaznena djela.

 

Okolnosti slučaja

Jedna od dviju osuđenih osoba usklađivala je dokumente koji se odnose na dva projekta: prvi projekt (Izgradnja reciklažnog dvorišta i nabava opreme) čija je vrijednost bila 5.401.800,00 kuna, od čega je iznos od 562.000,00 EUR (4.219.433,22 kuna) bio financiran sredstvima Kohezijskog fonda Europske Unije. Drugi projekt (BIOSOL - Izgradnja solarne elektrane) bio je vrijedan 547 000 EUR (4.100.000,00 kuna), od čega je 85% bilo financirano iz Europskog fonda za regionalni razvoj.

Prvi projekt na kraju je dodijeljen jednoj tvrtki, čiji je vlasnik predao mito u iznosu od 15 000 EUR 100.000,00 kuna) gradonačelniku Nove Gradiške kao nagradu za dodjelu projekta. Opisanim radnjama okrivljenika Europskom kohezijskom fondu prouzročena je šteta od najmanje 53 000 EUR (398.886,04 kuna), dok je Gradu Novoj Gradiški nanesena šteta u iznosu od najmanje 32 500 EUR (243,339.11 kuna).

U odnosu na drugi projekt, iako su poduzete sve potrebne radnje za donošenje Odluke o odabiru tog trgovačkog društva, uslijed uhićenja svih uključenih okrivljenika ta Odluka nije donesena.

Druga osuđena osoba je radnje prilagođavanja dokumentacije poduzimala u odnosu na jedan projekt (Projektiranje i rekonstrukcija uređaja za pročišćavanje otpadnih voda Velika Gorica i izgradnje nadzorno upravljačkog sustava u vrijednosti od 13 000 EUR (97.365.000,00 kuna), od čega je 67,34 % financirano sredstvima Kohezijskog fonda Europske Unije.

Iako su poduzete sve potrebne radnje za donošenje Odluke o odabiru tog trgovačkog društva, te iako je Dokumentacija o javnoj nabavi bila pripremljena na način da je jamčila prednost tom trgovačkom društvu, zahvaljujući uhićenju svih uključenih okrivljenika spriječeno je  donošenje takve odluke.