Jambo indictment for embezzlement of drought compensation

The Municipal State Attorney’s Office in Metković has filed an indictment against the mayor of Metković, Stipe Gabrić Jambo, for abuse of power in economic operations.

According to the spokesperson of the County State Attorney’s Office in Dubrovnik, Vlatko Cibilić, this abuse of power occurred in 2004 and is related to the payment of damages for the natural disaster drought that affected the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and the Neretva Valley in the summer of 2003. He is accused of causing damage to those affected by the drought in excess of four million kuna. As reported by the media, the state paid 5,592,367 kuna to the account of the city of Metković for the payment of damages, while only 1.38 million kuna was disbursed to them.

The remaining amount of around four million kuna was supposed to be returned to the state budget by Jambo and the head of the Metković Department of Economy, Milorad Dodig, who was then a member of the commission for assessing damages from the natural disaster, and against whom an indictment has also been filed. Since these are designated financial resources, they did not do so, but instead agreed to avoid returning the money to the budget and supplemented the list of victims of the natural disaster with the names of 161 individuals and amounts of assistance for those individuals totaling around four million kuna.

The list of these individuals was not in accordance with the law, and they had no right to request assistance for damages from the natural disaster as the deadlines had expired, as stated in the indictment against Jambo and Dodig, according to media reports.

Individuals whose names were added to the list of recipients of monetary compensation were later asked to renounce that money in favor of the city of Metković, which they did, thereby unlawfully retaining around four million kuna of state money by the city of Metković, that is, Jambo in agreement with Dodig, the media reports.