The government has dismissed Dinko Mikulić from his position as assistant minister for veterans’ affairs during a closed session, who was suspected at the end of December of accepting bribes from the head of the Varaždin construction company Stanoing.
Mikulić was placed in one month of investigative detention on December 29, as the investigating judge of the Zagreb County Court assessed that there was a danger of influencing witnesses.
The assistant minister responsible for housing assistance for war veterans and the families of deceased, detained, or missing Croatian defenders was arrested on December 28 in an anti-corruption operation.
Dinko Mikulić is suspected of having requested 250,000 euros in bribes from members of the management and co-owners of Stanoing from 2005 until his arrest, in return for helping the company to be selected as a seller of apartments for veterans in the Varaždin area. For the purchased apartments in 2005 and 2006, he allegedly received 50,000 euros in bribes, and then from 2008 until his arrest, he requested another 200,000 euros.
Mikulić has worked in the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs since 2000 and has been responsible for legal and housing matters for the past 12 years.
The company Stanoing became known to the wider public in February 2012 when its owner and former director Eduard Brumen, his son Hrvoje, former director Ivanka Strmečki, and three other individuals were arrested on suspicion of economic crime amounting to several tens of millions of kuna.
