The Chief State Attorney Dinko Cvitan stated on Wednesday that he believes the establishment of an investigative commission for Agrokor will not hinder the work of the DORH.
“I don’t think it will hinder me if an investigative commission is established. It will deal with some other aspects while we will focus solely on the facts regarding the determination of possible criminal liability of the participants in all these events,” Cvitan told reporters after the session of the Parliamentary Justice Committee, where he submitted the report on the work of the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia (DORH) for 2016.
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He also stated that he does not know what the audit report for Agrokor will bring, which is expected to be published on Thursday, but that it is important for assessing all circumstances of the case.
“Investigations are ongoing and when they are completed, a meritorious decision will be made by the state attorney’s office,” he said.
The case we “can handle”
Cvitan added that the case is progressing well and that the DORH can handle it, emphasizing that the County State Attorney’s Office in Zagreb is responsible for the Agrokor case, which it is leading according to the law.
The DORH has also engaged all necessary experts, and there will be sufficient funds for conducting the investigation, Cvitan said.
The government approved 5 million kuna from the budget reserves to the DORH in May to cover costs related to identifying possible irregularities in Agrokor.
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“These funds are handled very transparently and rationally, and in accordance with the government’s decision to allocate these funds, we will justify every kuna when everything is concluded,” he stated.
When asked whether the DORH is acting on an anonymous report against the Minister of Economy Martina Dalić and the government commissioner for Agrokor Ante Ramljak, Cvitan replied that the DORH acts on all reports just as in all other cases.
Report for 2016 acknowledged by the Committee
Presenting the report for 2016 before the Justice Committee, which acknowledged it, Cvitan said that the DORH had 1,731 employees that year, of which 621 were state attorney officials, while he pointed out the serious problem of unfilled trainee positions in the DORH.
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Regarding the funds available to the DORH, Cvitan said that this did not affect the timeliness and execution of the planned tasks of the DORH, although he admitted that there are certain problems with paying for expert assessments and other costs important for ongoing proceedings. “When it comes to serious economic cases, those assessments are complex and quite costly,” he reminded.
During 2016, state attorney’s offices received a total of 39,244 criminal reports against known perpetrators, which is 2.7 percent more than in 2015. Crimes against property dominated with 35.3 percent, followed by crimes against personal freedom and against the economy.
In 2016, there was also a 9.2 percent decrease in reports against unknown perpetrators, which Cvitan believes means that the police did their job well. A total of 32,790 reports were resolved in the reporting year.
Confirmation of indictments
Cvitan expressed satisfaction with the indictment confirmation rate of 96.4 percent and the high level of verdicts, but also dissatisfaction with the extremely lenient criminal policy given that conditional sentences are imposed in 75 percent of cases.
In response to public complaints about where the verdicts are, he presented data from USKOK indicating that at the end of 2016, 1,080 individuals had an indictment without a verdict. “I think that much greater dynamics of action in these cases needs to be undertaken. We consider it unacceptable and unsustainable for certain criminal proceedings against certain individuals to last for years, five, ten, fifteen years. First and foremost, this is a violation of human rights,” Cvitan said, calling such proceedings “frightening.”
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Goran Aleksić (SNAGA) criticized Cvitan for transferring misdemeanor reports against eight banks to the Croatian National Bank, saying that it is “like giving a mouse to a cat.”
Cvitan replied that the HNB is responsible for misdemeanor proceedings against banks and that the DORH cannot collect data and examine 100,000 contracts of citizens in question. “We did not pass the ball, the HNB is authorized for those cases,” he said.
Stevo Culej (HDZ) expressed dissatisfaction with unresolved war crime cases, to which Cvitan responded that he is also frustrated by this but that it also involves the relationship between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also rejected the claim that the DORH keeps cases in drawers.
