Arrests in Croatian Forests: Receiving Better Wood at the Price of Inferior Quality

Arrests have begun in Croatian Forests due to suspicions of corruption. At the request of USKOK, the Police Administration of Bjelovar-Bilogora is conducting arrests and urgent evidence-gathering actions. Both operations, as Index learns, relate to tax evasion and corruption associated with Croatian Forests in the Bjelovar area. There are suspicions of favoritism towards certain timber customers. Investigators believe they have evidence that some individuals from Croatian Forests received bribes for this.

Arrests and investigative actions are taking place in the areas of Zagreb, Vrbovec, Bjelovar, Draganić, and other locations in Croatia against several individuals for whom there is reasonable suspicion of committing tax crimes and money laundering as part of a criminal organization, USKOK reported.

According to unofficial information, Darko Sušanj, the head of the commercial department from the Directorate of Croatian Forests, was arrested in Zagreb on suspicion of receiving bribes. Ivan Cug, the head of the Forest Management of the Bjelovar branch, was also arrested, along with one of his colleagues responsible for commercial activities in the same branch. Investigators have also focused on about a dozen individuals from local forestry offices, including those in Daruvar, Grubišno Polje, and Vrbovec. Entrepreneur Mario Janković, owner of the wood processing company Atlas MR, has reportedly been detained on suspicion of giving bribes.

According to investigators’ suspicions, Janković was bribing employees of Croatian Forests to enable him to purchase healthy and quality wood at the price of lower quality wood, causing significant damage to Croatian Forests. It is known that log buyers have so-called framework agreements under which logs are sold to them, and in this case, the suspects facilitated the selection of higher quality logs, their procurement whenever it suited the buyers—regardless of the agreed dynamics—and accepted all complaints.

Investigators have reportedly been secretly monitoring this group for over a year, during which they could hear agreements about bribes from recorded conversations. The amounts of bribes ranged from several hundred to several thousand euros. In addition to Janković, companies such as Drvna industrija Zelina, Interijeri Sabljo, and Slavonija wood industry are also linked to this corruption chain.

Among the suspects is Toni Marušić from the Bjelovar Forestry Office, a forestry technician suspected of also enabling certain customers to select higher quality logs.

Croatian Forests confirmed the actions of USKOK following information that several individuals were arrested on suspicion of corruption in this public company.

– We can confirm the actions of USKOK in Croatian Forests and hereby express our support in clarifying this situation – they stated in a press release.