Turudić decides that USKOK, not EPPO, is competent for Beroš's case

Chief State Attorney Ivan Turudić decided on Tuesday that the Office for Prevention of Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK), not the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), has jurisdiction in the case related to previously detained former Minister of Health Vili Beroš.

“Considering that the State Budget of the Republic of Croatia paid out an amount exceeding 1,400,000.00 euros for the purchase of medical equipment in three hospitals, while the sale of the devices in the Split Clinical Hospital Center was not realized, it is obvious that the damage to the State Budget of the Republic of Croatia is greater than the damage that was caused or could have been caused to the financial interests of the European Union,” announced the State Attorney's Office (DORH).

Milanović: The Republic of Croatia is not capable of dealing with crime and corruption on its own

President of the Republic Zoran Milanović said that the corruption investigation must not bypass anyone and that everyone involved in the theft of public money must be punished and discovered.

Milanović pointed out that the European prosecutors have started the investigation, collected more evidence and covered a larger number of suspects and criminal acts, and these are strong arguments why the EPPO should have continued and completed the investigation.

“We all see that corruption in Andrej Plenković's government is only revealed when the investigation is launched by European prosecutors. This is a shame for Croatia because it shows that the Croatian state is not capable of dealing with crime and corruption on its own,” said President Milanović's statement.

DORH's decision was briefly commented on by Justice Minister Damir Habijan.

“If there is a conflict of jurisdiction as to who decides as in 15 other member states, or 14 plus Croatia, 15 EU members have resolved it in this way and I am glad that it was adopted so that we can resolve this issue, considering that I have been answering about something for several days that I could not even speak about hypothetically,” said Damir Habijan, Minister of Justice, Administration and Digital Transformation.

SDP: Beroš hired Turudić as his defense attorney

It seems that Vili Beroš has hired Ivan Turudić as his defense attorney, announced Social Democratic Party (SDP) after DORH's decision.

“It is precisely because of situations like this that the SDP requested a change to the law back in May - we proposed that the conflict of jurisdiction between the DORH and the EPPO be decided by the High Criminal Court in the first instance, and the Supreme Court in the second instance, and not by the Attorney General. The political influence of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) on DORH brings us into conflict with the EPPO, and therefore with the EU. We are witnessing not only a legal, but also a political issue that could affect Croatia's position in the EU,” stated their Facebook post.

Two investigations

After USKOK announced on Friday that they had arrested Vili Beroš, the head of the Zagreb Neurology Clinic at the Sisters of Mercy Clinical Hospital Center and a member of the board of a Zagreb polyclinic, Krešimir Rotim, and entrepreneur Saša Pozder on suspicion of corruption, the EPPO announced that it had launched an investigation against Beroš and seven other people.

The media revealed that among them were Hrvoje Petrač and his two sons - Nikola, who, together with his father, remains inaccessible to the Croatian judiciary, and Novica, who turned himself in on Monday evening.

On Friday after the arrest, the State Attorney's Office (DORH) requested an urgent report and full file from the EPPO related to Beroš's case, while the EPPO asked DORH to transfer their file to the European Prosecutor's Office. Chief State Attorney Ivan Turudić announced that he would soon decide whether USKOK or the EPPO had jurisdiction in the case.

On Saturday, the investigating judge of the Zagreb County Court, at the request of the EPPO, ordered pre-trial detention for five suspects in their part of the investigation related to the procurement of overpriced medical devices.

However, only Tomo Pavić from the Krapina branch office of the Croatian Health Insurance Institute and the director of the children's hospital in Klaićeva Street, Goran Roić, were taken from the court to the Remetinec prison from that group at the time.

All were remanded in custody due to the risk of influencing witnesses and repeating the offense, and the three Petračs were ordered into pre-trial detention due to the risk of flight.

Unlike USKOK, whose investigation does not mention the three Petračs, the EPPO is charging Beroš with accepting bribes, and Turudić previously said at a press conference that the former minister is suspected of trading in influence, while the bribe was received by 'another person'.

The EPPO, however, reported that it suspects that Beroš, in exchange for the bribe received, approved the purchase of operating microscopes at unreasonably inflated prices and secured funds to finance public procurement.

On the other hand, USKOK, at whose request Beroš and Pozder were remanded in custody on Saturday, while Rotim was released to defend himself, claims that the trio teamed up to market and sell medical devices from an Austrian manufacturer to state-owned hospitals.

USKOK suspects that Pozder's company received a gain of almost half a million euros, while according to EPPO's suspicions, the price of operating microscopes purchased at the expense of the Croatian state budget was unjustifiably increased by almost 620,000 euros.

Source: HRT