Former JANAF oil pipeline operator CEO Dragan Kovacevic's defence insists that all of his property was acquired lawfully even though, apart from a set of undeclared properties, investigators have on a few occasions reportedly discovered money which they allege Kovacevic obtained through corruption.
“We will continue to insist that the origin of his money and real estate can be explained,” attorney Ivo Farcic said on Monday evening, after police searched an apartment in Zagreb’s Tresnjevka neighbourhood which Farcic said belonged to Kovacevic’s wife.
The police search of the apartment was the reason why Kovacevic was brought to Tresnjevka from the city prison in Remetinec, where he has been since September 17, when the investigation into the JANAF graft scandal was launched.
In the meantime, information was leaked to the media saying that the former JANAF CEO took from a club in Zagreb’s Slovenska Street, where he allegedly received a bribe from businessman Kreso Petek, the main suspect in the case, at least 12 million kuna which he left at two addresses, in a garage owned by his friend Dean Sparavac in Samobor outside Zagreb, and in a flat of another friend, in downtown Zagreb.
It was later found out that the friend in question is Goran Puklin, husband of prosecutor Mirela Aleric Puklin, to whom the investigation was expanded on the suspicion that he hid Kovacevic’s money in the amount of HRK 4.5 million even though he was aware that it was obtained unlawfully.
The number of suspects in the case has thus risen to 14 and they are suspected of involvement in a number of corruption crimes, from influence-peddling and bribery to unlawful preferential treatment and abuse of office.
The main suspects in the case are Elektropromet company owner Kreso Petek, former JANAF CEO Kovacevic, Velika Gorica Mayor Drazen Barisic, and Nova Gradiska Mayor Vinko Grgic.
Investigators had sought detention for all but one suspect, and three were recently released after pleading guilty. Sources close to the investigation say that five more suspects are willing to plead guilty.
