Indictment Against Leaders of Croatian Waters Due to Safari

The Zagreb County Court today confirmed the amended indictment against the former director of Croatian Waters, Jadranko Husarić, and two co-defendants, Zoran Crneković and Božidar Deduš, who, according to USKOK, paid for a safari in Namibia to secure contracts for their companies with Croatian Waters.

Husarić and the directors of the companies ‘Vodoprivreda Lonja-Zelina’ and ‘Proning’ are charged with receiving and giving bribes in business operations and abuse of position and authority. USKOK did not specify the exact amount of financial benefits that the defendants will have to return if convicted. However, in addition to travel and hunting expenses in Namibia, the cost of transporting hunting trophies to Croatia was also cited as a bribe. 

– We assert that there is no criminal offense in this case and believe that the defense is strong because, although the indictment has been confirmed, there is ample evidence that Husarić personally paid the travel expenses directly to Crneković, who then organized the trip – said Husarić’s attorney, Rajko Mlinarić, to Hina after the hearing of the indictment council, which initially returned the indictment for revision last May.

Mlinarić announced that he would attempt to prove at trial that Husarić could not secure contracts for anyone because public procurement procedures were conducted at Croatian Waters, which he had no influence over. USKOK claims that the safari, which the trio attended from June 1 to 8, 2009, was arranged by Crneković, who cited professional development as the reason for the trip. Deduš, in turn, in an effort to gain benefits for himself and Crneković, requested that the invoice for the advance payment be labeled as “Professional Trip – Namibia,” and based on the order submitted, his company paid for the expenses.

Crneković booked the airline tickets and instructed the professional services of the company he heads to pay the travel invoice, so that this expense would be recorded in the books as a road transport service and that the time of his stay in Namibia would be recorded as if he were working. After the stay in Namibia, hunting trophies for Husarić and Crneković were, according to USKOK, transported to Croatia, and the transportation costs were paid by a contractor of the company where he is the director, following Crneković’s instructions.

After USKOK launched an investigation in March 2011, Husarić dismissed all newspaper reports that Croatian Waters had rigged tenders and embezzled money. When directly asked whether any company had paid for his hunting in Namibia, he replied that he had not charged anything from his company and that he goes wherever he wants for vacation.