In the latest twist of the so-called Text Message Affair, the personal driver of the Agriculture Minister and a prominent member of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Tomislav Tolusic was arrested on Wednesday.
Tolusic’s chauffeur, Blaz Curic, was arrested on suspicion of having notified computer expert Franjo Varga of an ongoing investigation ahead of Varga’s arrest on Friday.
The affair, which hit the headlines over the weekend, began when Franjo Varga, a computer expert formerly employed by the Croatian police, was arrested on Friday in his home in the eastern town of Belisce, on suspicion of producing forged text message correspondence for the convicted football mogul Zdravko Mamic and three of Mamic’s co-defendants during their trial for syphoning 115.8 million kuna (€15.6 million) from the Dinamo Zagreb football club.
Varga is suspected of creating printouts of fake text conversations between the former head state prosecutor Dinko Cvitan and a judge at Osijek court where Mamic was on trial, falsely indicating that Cvitan was pressuring the judge into convicting Mamic.
Mamic had held a presser in June, two days before the court’s verdict, showing reporters the printouts, saying he received them by mail and claiming that these are proof that the court case against him is a set up and that he is victim of Cvitan’s personal vendetta.
Mamic was then found guilty and sentenced to six and a half years in prison, but only after he had fled to neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina to avoid incarceration, where he resides today.
Organised crime police unit Uskok investigated the texts, with further investigation leaked to the media indicating that Varga was hired by other people to produce fake text message correspondence, including fake conversations between Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and then Economy Minister Martina Dalic over the handling of the crisis at Agrokor, which former CEO and founder of the troubled food and retail company Ivica Todoric had used in May 2018 to claim that he too was victim of state-sponsored persecution from his self-imposed exile in London.
Other prominent persons mentioned in the media who might have been Varga’s clients were also senior official of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Milijan Brkic and the party’s former leader, Tomislav Karamarko, with allegations saying that the texts ordered from Varga were used by Brkic and Karamarko for internal party conflicts during the time Karamarko led the party, to discredit members of opposing party factions.
Earlier on Wednesday, Brkic confirmed to reporters that he knew Varga from his time at the Interior Ministry, but denied having ordered any fake material from him, saying that allegations involving him are fabricated.
(€1 = 7.42 kuna)
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