USKOK issues an indictment against the minister's advisor for trading in influence and misuse of the Fund's funds

USKOK, after conducting an investigation, filed an indictment against a Croatian citizen (1968) before the County Court in Zagreb for committing the criminal offense of trading influence.

The indictment charges the defendant that, from October to December 12, 2023, in Zagreb, as a special advisor in the minister's cabinet in the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Croatia and a member of the Management Board of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (hereinafter: the Fund), he used the authority of the positions he held to ensure that the state budget funds achieve financial gain for a person of his trust with whom he was interest-connected through the engagement of a television station (hereinafter: TVP) for the promotion of the Fund's activities in such a way that part of the funds from that engagement based on false documentation is paid to the person of his trust.

Thus, the defendant, within the Fund's campaign to inform the public about its two projects, requested that the Fund engage TVP in this advertising campaign for a total amount of 90,000 euros. The responsible persons of the Fund, given the credibility that the defendant had based on the functions he held, accepted this without knowing the true goals of his actions.

Then, through a person of his trust, the defendant requested from the director of TVP, invoking the authority of his duties and the financial significance of this business engagement for TVP, that based on a false contract and invoice for services that will never actually be provided, part of the money that the Fund will pay to TVP for the provided services be unjustifiably paid from TVP's account and handed over in cash to a person of the defendant's trust. After that, this person engaged a trading company to create false business documentation necessary for the payment of money from TVP's account, and this company concluded a contract with TVP based on which the company issued an invoice to TVP on November 28, 2023, although there was no basis for this as the services specified in the invoice were never performed.