High Administrative Court has quashed a 2017 decision by the Conflict of Interest Commission which fined Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic after his defence attorney had paid his bail with his own money. Another fine for Bandic over donations he continued to receive after the 2009 presidential election which he rain in was also quashed.

The commission fined Bandic with the maximum fine of 40,000 kuna (€5,300) for the bail paid by the lawyer and for donations received after the presidential election campaign was over.

The commission ruled that by receiving the donations amounting to more than 24.7 million kuna (€3.3 million) that he received in 2011 and 2012, Bandic was in violation of the Conflict of Interest Act. The commission underscored that Bandic had received donations of up to 90,000 kuna each from tens of donors, and this amount was more than the annual net income of some of those who paid those sums.

The commission also concluded then after Hanzekovic’s law firm deposited bail money in the amount of 15 million kuna, Bandic found himself in a relationship of dependence on Hanzekovic.

The High Administrative Court among other things concluded that the commission had erred in concluding that the donations paid after the election were a (inadmissible) gift, and explained that  the money concerned was used to settle subsequent costs for electioneering.

As far as Hanzekovic’s money is concerned, the court ruled that all citizens are equal before the law and that restricting an official “to receive bail money from anyone in a criminal proceedings represents unallowable restriction of their right to a defence.”

Media outlets claim that the court’s decision will have a drastic impact on the commission’s powers in addition to some previous decisions that were quashed including cases against former Croatian Democratic Union leader Tomislav Karamarko who stepped down after the case against him but also in the for cases against a former economy minister Martina Dalic, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

(€1 = 7.56 kuna)