Police searched the home of IT expert Franjo Varga, formerly employed by the Croatian police and a key suspect in the so-called Text Message Affair, in the eastern town of Belisce on Tuesday. Investigators said they confiscated electronics belonging to Varga, while Varga himself was taken in for questioning and released later in the day.
Police investigatores searched Varga’s house in Belisce after Nacional weekly had published in its April 30 issue that Varga is suspected of aiding illegal spying of electronic communication of four persons, with other suspects in the probe being a prominent member of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Deputy Parliament Speaker, Milijan Brkic, his brother Jozo Brkic, and Blaz Curic – Brkic’s close friend and former official driver of Agriculture Minister, Tomislav Tolusic.
One of the persons whose computer was hacked, Nacional reported, was Milijan Brkic’s ex wife Karmen Brkic. Two of the remaining three person spied on were younger women referred to by their initials – one allegedly being Milijan Brkic’s love interest and a local government official in the Split-Dalmatia County, and the other the love interest of his brother Jozo, Nacional said.
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According to Nacional, police found out about computer hacking by examining the computers and documents seized in an ongoing investigation focusing on Varga and Curic over the fabrication of fake text message correspondence which is thought to have been ordered and used by defendants in several highly publicised court cases.
Furthermore, in the latest issue of Nacional, which hit the stands on Tuesday, an article claimed that in March last year Curic – thought to act on behalf od Brkic – had asked Varga to monitor electronic communication of the incumbent Interior Minister, Davor Bozinovic.
Nacional also reported that Milijan Brkic had tried to get Varga to spy on Prime Minister Plenkovic as well, which Varga allegedly refused to do, Index.hr reported.
The editor-in-chief of Nacional, Berislav Jelinic, was also brought in for questioning in connection with the latest developments.
“I cannot reveal what the police interview was about, because under Croatian criminal law the investigation is confidential. I did not reveal the source of our information. We discussed the broader context of the fake text messages affair,” Jelinic told reporters after giving his deposition to investigators.
Both Varga and Curic had been arrested in September last year. Varga was arrested on the suspicion that he had produced forged text message correspondence for the convicted football mogul Zdravko Mamic, which Mamic used in the closing stages of his embezzelement trial to claim that he was being framed by state prosecutors. Mamic was later convicted and subsequently fled to neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Curic, who was at the time Agriculture Minister’s official chauffeur, was arrested days later, under suspicion that he had notified Varga of an ongoing police investigation against him and warned him of his arrest.
They were both released in March after spending the legally mandated maximum of six months in custody.
