Whether the Independent Sector for the Detection of Tax Fraud, known as the Tax USKOK, will be abolished or not is currently uncertain, but it will certainly be reorganized. As Finance Minister Zdravko Marić states, the resignation of Chief Ana Dorić Škeva has been misinterpreted as an announcement of the closure of that office; on the contrary – this sector aims to strengthen itself.
The opposition has predictably received announcements regarding changes in the Tax USKOK, a sector established by former Finance Minister Boris Lalovac in 2014, with hostility. Josip Leko, a member of parliament from the SDP, reminds that a reorganization has already taken place in that body and questions whether there is any analysis showing that this institution is not performing its job well.
– The primary goal and task of all services within the Ministry, not just the sector for detecting tax fraud, is to respond promptly to tax fraud, evasion through offshore companies, various intrusions into security systems, identity theft, and similar issues. Thus, with the Tax USKOK, I also expect it to continue doing its job with increased intensity. Regarding organization and systematization, no decision has been made at this moment, Marić emphasized, adding that his idea for the new organization and systematization is that there should be no parallel management systems, but rather one system, where all services are mutually interactive and connected, significantly strengthened in terms of information technology, and continue to cooperate with all law enforcement bodies in the Republic of Croatia, including the DORH, USKOK, and the Ministry of the Interior, as well as with the international network of relevant institutions.
