Former minister Gabrijela Žalac sentenced to two years in prison for corruption

Former Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Žalac has been sentenced to two years in prison for corruption, under the terms of a plea deal with prosecutors. 

Žalac and three other defendants - who remain on trial - are accused of influence peddling, abuse of office, and manipulating public procurement. According to prosecutors, their actions caused losses of at least 300,000 euros to Croatia and over 1 million euros to the European Union.

"I have no comment..." said Žalac as she left the Zagreb County Court on Thursday.

"The defendant Gabrijela Žalac was found guilty today. On the basis of her admission of guilt and the agreement between the parties, she has been sentenced to two years in prison. It should be noted, that prior to this verdict she voluntarily paid back to the state 200 thousand euros, a part of the damages she caused by her criminal actions,” said Sani Ljubičić, a prosecutor assigned to the case by the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).

The EPPO said that in 2017, Žalac initiated the public procurement of a data system and took actions to lock-in contracts for two of the three other defendants, Mladen Šimunca and Mark Jukić,  and their companies.

The Ministry, under Žalac, grossly inflated the value of the procurement and decided to conduct a negotiated procedure without publishing a public call for tenders. The companies, owned by Šimunica and Jukić, were then invited to submit their bids and were ultimately awarded the contract at an unrealistically high price of 1.73 million euros.

The investigation found that the former minister and the other defendants continued to take actions with the aim of securing contracts for their companies, despite the fact that the procedure was annulled due to a violation of the Public Procurement Act.