We Found 50 Politicians Under Legal Fire: Who Served Time, Who Peelled Potatoes, and Who Got Off with Probation

The case of Minister of Construction Darko Horvat is the first arrest of a current government member. Legal troubles for other ministers escalated only after resignations, dismissals, or the end of their terms. Other politicians also faced issues with Uskok, the police, and the judiciary. So far, they have collectively served 13 years. Let’s go alphabetically:

1. – 4. Zlatko Babić: The mayor of Kutina was arrested on suspicion of influence peddling and bribing councilors. Alongside him, following the whistleblower statement from Adriana Cvrtile, were arrested the former president of the City Council Davor Kljakić and councilors Dražen Kinderman and Darko Kousek.

5. – 17. Milan Bandić: The mayor of Zagreb has accumulated over ten criminal charges in about twenty years, mostly related to suspicions of corrupt activities, spent about 50 days in pre-trial detention, but has never been definitively convicted. His associates, employees of the City Administration and city companies, among them Slobodan Ljubičić, Ivan Tolić, Miljenko Benko, Ivica Lovrić, Zdenka Palac, Vidoje Bulum, Miro Laco, Zdenko Antunović, Dragutin Kosić, Zdravko Krajina, Zvonimir Šostar, Ana Stavljenić Rukavina… have also been arrested or are still on the defendant’s bench. A number of entrepreneurs he allegedly favored are also involved, the most notable being Petar Pripuz.

18. – 19. Davor Barišić and Vinko Grgić: They were arrested as mayors of Velika Gorica and Nova Gradiška in the ‘Janaf’ affair, together with the head of Janafa Dragan Kovačević and the owner of Elektrocentar Petek Krešo Petek.

20. Josip Bienenfeld: The head of the legal affairs sector at the Ministry of Construction was arrested in April 2019 on suspicion of receiving a bribe for changing the building permit for the Split hotel Villa Harmony.

21. Radimir Čačić: The Deputy Prime Minister of Milanović’s government resigned when he was definitively convicted for a traffic accident in Hungary that resulted in one fatality. He spent more than a year in prison.

22. Nada Čavlović Smiljanec: The former head of the Tax Administration was provisionally sentenced to two years in prison for delaying the collection of tax debt from the Osijek OLT.

23. Ivan Čehok: He spent three months in pre-trial detention. The Supreme Court overturned the sentence in which he was convicted to two years in prison for swapping city properties with Davor Pataft. The second case is related to the alleged acceptance of a bribe from the director of Zagorje-Tehnobeton Miroslav Bunić.

24. Ljubo Ćesić Rojs: He was sentenced to one year of community service for writing off 3.2 million kuna for the Croatian volunteer as an assistant minister of defense.

25. Petar Čobanković: The former minister under Sanader admitted guilt in the ‘Planinska’ affair and, based on a settlement with Uskok, was sentenced to one year in prison; he served it through community service at the Public Kitchen in Osijek.

26. Stipe Gabrić Jambo: He was acquitted of the charge that he misused state funds as the mayor of Metković (the ‘Drought’ affair), but was definitively sentenced to seven months probation for obstructing evidence in that case.

27. – 31. Darko Horvat: The Minister of Construction was arrested on Saturday and placed in one-month detention on suspicion that as a minister in 2018, together with his then-assistant Ana Mandac (who was arrested in the ‘Wind Farms’ affair), he illegally distributed non-repayable incentives. According to unofficial information, the investigation also involves Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milošević (who has offered his mandate for disposal) and former minister Tomislav Tolušić, as well as current minister Josip Aladrović due to connections with illegal employment in the HZMO, which he headed before his ministerial function. He reportedly has a resignation ready.

32. – 34. Lovro Kuščević: The former Minister of Construction and later administration had his parliamentary immunity revoked due to suspicions of illegal activities when he was the mayor of the Municipality of Nerežišće. An indictment has been raised against him and five others, including the president of the Municipal Council Jakša Gojić and the then head of the Municipality Svemir Obilinović, the current mayor of Nerežišće.

35. Marina Lovrić Merzel: The Sisak-Moslavina County Prefect was arrested in 2014 for financial malversations; the court proceedings are still ongoing.

36. Damir Polančec: The former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy spent 115 days in pre-trial detention due to the ‘Spice’ affair and the alleged attempt to take over Podravka, but later, like other co-defendants, Podravka’s managers were acquitted of charges. He served a ten-month prison sentence for giving 500,000 kuna for an unnecessary study on resolving the status of Borovo workers of Serbian nationality. He also admitted guilt for malversations in setting up public lighting at the NK Osvit stadium in his hometown Đelekovac, for which he received one year probation.

37. – 39. Matija Posavec: The Međimurje County Prefect was arrested for receiving a bribe of 10,000 kuna. On the same day, the former mayor of Čakovec Stjepan Kovač was arrested for staging false threats. Posavec admitted, resigned, ran again, and convincingly won.

40. – 45. Josipa Rimac: She was arrested in the ‘Wind Farms’ affair along with twelve others. Among them were the head of Croatian Forests Krunoslav Jakupčić, the president of the HERA Management Board Tomislav Jureković, the chief of staff of the Minister of Agriculture Ružica Njavro, the mayor of Gračac Nataša Turbić, the city councilor of Knin Marinko Tokmakčija, and the assistant minister of economy Ana Mandac (‘in the game’ along with Darko Horvat). The entrepreneurial part was led by the investor in the wind farm Krš – Pađene Milenko Bašić and his manager Dragan Stipić.

46. Berislav Rončević: The former Minister of Defense was provisionally sentenced to four years in prison in December 2010 due to the ‘Trucks’ case, but was acquitted of charges in a retrial.

47. Željko Sabo: He served seven months in prison for attempting to ‘buy’ HDZ councilor Marija Budimir as the mayor of Vukovar.

48. Ivo Sanader: The former Prime Minister has spent nearly seven years in prison so far and could spend at most another eight. He was tried in the processes Ina – Mol, Hypo, Fimi media, Planinska, and HEP – Dioki (for which he was acquitted).

49. Alojz Tomašević: The Požega-Slavonia County Prefect received a conditional sentence of ten months in prison for domestic violence.

50. Gabrijela Žalac: The former Minister of EU Funds was arrested because the Office of the European Public Prosecutor initiated proceedings due to suspicious public procurement of an IT system. In the ‘Software’ affair, the director of SAFU Tomislav Petric was also arrested.

The Leader’s editorial team apologizes to all protagonists who may have been overlooked.

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