USKOK reported that arrests and urgent evidence-gathering actions are underway in Zagreb and Skradin concerning several individuals, one of whom is a high-ranking state official, suspected of committing corrupt criminal acts.
The prosecution states that the arrests and urgent evidence-gathering actions are the result of previous investigations conducted by USKOK.
According to media reports, PNUSKOK officials arrived on Friday morning with search warrants at the address of Minister of Health Vili Beroš and several high-ranking doctors.
It is reported that this concerns the procurement of dual microscopes for neurosurgery, which were allegedly overpaid, and that among the arrested is the head of the Neurosurgery Clinic at KB ‘Sestre milosrdnice’, Krešimir Rotim.
USKOK states that after questioning the suspects, it will make a decision on further actions in the case, which will be timely communicated to the public.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković dismissed Vili Beroš from the position of Minister of Health on Friday morning.
Dr. Irena Hrstić has been appointed as the state secretary managing the Ministry of Health until the new minister takes office.
A coalition meeting will be held at 10 a.m., and at 11 a.m. there will be a press conference by the Prime Minister in Banski dvori.
Jandroković unpleasantly surprised by Beroš’s arrest
The President of the Croatian Parliament, Gordan Jandroković, said on Friday that he was unpleasantly surprised by the news of the arrest of Minister of Health Vili Beroš, emphasizing that institutions are doing their job and that there are no untouchables.
– I was unpleasantly surprised by the news, I just saw it, we will see what he is charged with and what exactly it is about – commented Jandroković for N1 on the news that Minister Beroš was arrested this morning.
He added that it will be known later in the day what exactly happened, and then he will make a statement.
Jandroković does not expect the government to have problems due to this arrest as he does not believe it is connected to any political activities.
– Institutions are clearly working, there are no untouchables – said the Speaker of the Parliament.
Beroš rigged tenders, EPPO announced
Regarding the arrest of Minister of Health Vili Beroš and the initiation of a major investigation into corruption in healthcare, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has also issued a statement.
It has been announced that the EPPO has launched an investigation in Zagreb against eight individuals, including the Minister of Health and responsible persons from two Zagreb hospital institutions, as well as two legal entities, due to reasonable suspicion that they committed criminal acts of receiving and giving bribes, abuse of position and authority, and money laundering.
– There is reasonable suspicion that, from June 2022 to November 2024, the first suspect, as the leader of a criminal organization, connected four other members of the criminal organization in a joint action, with the aim of obtaining undue property benefits for two companies in which the suspects were responsible persons and actual business leaders. The purpose of their criminal activity was to ensure that one of these companies was selected for the sale of medical robotic devices to hospital institutions in the Republic of Croatia, which they achieved by giving and promising monetary rewards to relevant stakeholders in the public health system in exchange for securing funding for the procurement of these devices at unjustifiably inflated prices. There is reasonable suspicion that they gave or promised to give rewards for manipulating public procurement procedures to ensure the exclusion of market competition in favor of the suspected company, by creating technical documentation that included technical specifications for medical robotic devices that only this suspected company could meet – states the announcement.
The other suspects, they continue, offered and delivered bribes to relevant stakeholders in the public health system, including the Minister of Health and responsible persons from several hospital institutions in the Republic of Croatia, to take actions favoring the conclusion of contracts for projects of hospital institutions involved in the Croatian ‘National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021 – 2026’, financed from the European Union budget under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, as well as for other projects financed from the State Budget of the Republic of Croatia.
– There is reasonable suspicion that the suspects, on at least four occasions, took actions to ensure the placement of medical robotic devices of the suspected company. In the case of the Clinical Hospital Center Split, the procurement within the project ‘Procurement of a Robotic Surgery System’, estimated at 4,850,000.00 EUR and fully financed from the European Union budget, was not awarded to the suspected company, despite the bribe offered to the responsible person in this hospital and the fact that a monetary reward was promised to the Minister of Health in exchange for favoring the suspected company. Since the responsible person in the hospital rejected the offered bribe, in this case, there was no acquisition of undue property benefits to the detriment of the European Union budget.
In the remaining three cases, it concerns the procurement of surgical microscopes for the needs of the Clinical Hospital Center Osijek, the Children’s Hospital Zagreb, and the Clinical Hospital Center Sestre Milosrdnice. In all three cases, there is reasonable suspicion that the Minister of Health, in exchange for the received bribe, issued approvals for the procurement of these surgical microscopes at unjustifiably inflated prices and secured
