Several long-standing local office-holders, perceived by their critics as local sheriffs, came under investigation in 2014 and some of them are Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic and former Sisak County head Marina Lovric Merzel who resigned after being put behind the bars.
These investigation were launched by the USKOK anti-corruption office after Dinko Cvitan's appointment as chief state prosecutor. He announced that dealing with corruption at local level would be his primary task. "My impression is that local sheriffs are far more dangerous than it seems," he said.
After probing many high-ranked politicians, from former prime minister Ivo Sanader to ministers and public companies' CEOs, this year USKOK cracked down on prominent local officials.
Bandic was arrested in an operation codenamed Agram and released on bail. Two other mayors, Zeljko Sabo of Vukovar and Bozidar Kalmeta of Zadar, also came under investigation, with Kalmeta suspected as a minister in Sanader's cabinet.
Former Sisak County head Lovric Merzel ended up in custody on suspicion of defrauding the county of more than HRK 10.5 million. The investigation into her was expanded several times. She was released after the last witness was questioned and after resigning. Upon release, she activated her MP mandate.
Bandic was released on HRK 15 million bail after vowing to a judge that he would not tamper with witnesses or perform his mayoral duties during the investigation. He did not have to resign as mayor after the Constitutional Court ruled in Lovric Merzel's case that remanding officials in custody cannot be made conditional on their resigning and that one should consider surveillance measures instead.
Bandic is suspected of defrauding the city he has been running for 12 years, with the prosecution estimating the damage at HRK 20 million.
Kalmeta did not end up in custody but USKOK suspects him of linking two of his associates and executives of the HAC motorway operator so that they could siphon at least HRK 30 million from this public company.
USKOK is also investigating Zadar businessman and councillor (?'??) and former football referee Reno Sinovcic and others for fraud exceeding HRK 130 million.
The Osijek County Court found former Vukovar mayor Sabo guilty pending appeal of an attempt to bribe two HDZ city councillors, sentencing him to 16 months in prison. He has also been indicted for financial wrongdoing.
The year also saw record-high bail amounts which enabled the suspects to be released from custody. Zagreb's County Court ruled that Sinovcic could be released if he posts HRK 20 million bail, the highest amount ever set in Croatia. His counsel appealed the decision because the bail was twice as high as the amount they offered.
Bandic paid HRK 15 million in cash and a court later rejected his motion that the cash bail be exchanged with pledged property.
Former PM Sanader posted HRK 12.4 million bail to be released from custody but ended up in prison after being convicted of war profiteering in the Hypo case and taking a bribe from the Hungarian energy group MOL. The conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court, reducing the sentence to 8.5 years' imprisonment.
Sanader and his former party, the HDZ, were found guilty pending appeal of funnelling money from state institutions and companies into the party's coffers. Sanader was sentenced to nine years in prison. If the sentence is upheld, he will have to pay back HRK 15.27 million in illegal gains. The HDZ was fined HRK 5 million and had HRK 24.2 million seized in illegal gains.
Sanader is on trial also in the Planinska case. The trial, however, has been adjourned due to his ill health. In this case, he is charged with taking HRK 17 million in commission on the purchase of a property for the Regional Development Ministry.
While the Supreme Court was reviewing Sanader's appeal in the Hypo and MOL bribe cases, USKOK indicted MOL director Zsolt Hernadi for giving the bribe to Sanader in exchange for management rights in the Croatian oil and gas company INA. After Hungary refused to serve Hernadi with Croatia's summonses, Croatia decided to try him in absentia. He has not been arrested despite the issue of a European Arrest Warrant (EAW).
An EAW issued by Germany resulted in the extradition of Yugoslav-era and Croatian intelligence officials Josip Perkovic and Zdravko Mustac. The handover earlier in the year ended a seven-month legal and political imbroglio which shook and polarised the political scene in Croatia, highlighting the unsolved political assassinations of the former regime and creating disputes in judicial circles because of different interpretations of the EAW and the statute of limitations.
The Perkovic case had repercussions outside Croatia as well, notably because of amendments to the law on judicial cooperation with EU member states, dubbed Lex Perkovic, causing tensions between Zagreb and Brussels.
At the end of the year, parliament amended several judicial laws, including the Criminal Procedure Act in order to even out courts' case load, which is expected to enhance promptness and shorten criminal procedures.
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