USKOK does not request pretrial detention for latest Hippodrome arrests

On Tuesday the president of the Board of Directors of the City of Zagreb's Sports Facilities Management Institution and its acting director were arrested on suspicion of corruption. Their arrest pertains to the broader Hippodrome corruption case.

After Tuesday’s arrest and questioning of the president of the Board of Directors of the City of Zagreb's Sports Facilities Management Institution and its acting director, Goran Đulić and Jagoda Bončina Franjković, USKOK has not filed a motion for pre-trial detention. The two are suspected of demoting several employees in retaliation for their testifying against former director Kosta Kostanjević in the Hippodrome corruption case.

The USKOK anti-corruption and organized crime office previously arrested the now former director of the City of Zagreb's Sports Facilities Management Institution on charges that he and two other suspects syphoned-off €1.8 million for fictitious security services at the Zagreb Hippodrome.

Commenting on the latest arrests on Tuesday renowned Zagreb lawyer Anto Nobilo said that it appears as though there are several layers to the case: "I believe that this is a broadening, or better said unraveling of the entire situation. The hippodrome affair is nowhere near being resolved. So in my opinion this is just another layer of people who are part of a criminal organization that needs to be addressed. Obviously the involvement of these two people who are under investigation in this criminal organization is much bigger than we are currently aware of."

Meanwhile, Đulić's lawyer Tomislav Žulj said that USKOK declining to file a motion for precautionary measures did not come as a surprise: "Investigative custody has not been requested, nor have precautionary measures. I didn't expect them before and I maintain that position, and now it has been established that there are no grounds for either measure. The procedure will move forward as prescribed, USKOK has deadlines by which it must complete or extend the investigation. We will receive a notification regarding the expanding of the investigation, to which we have the right to file an appeal within an eight day deadline, but we'll see whether or not we will do so."

Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević has been playing the entire scandal off as a case of ill-intentioned politics, especially given that Kostanjević’s arrest came just before the recent local elections.

Source: HRT