The indictment panel of the Zagreb County Court on Monday rejected the defence's request to remove from the case file messages from Josipa Pleslic’s (formerly Rimac) mobile phone, which in their opinion were unlawfully collected by the prosecution in the wind farm case.

“The defence’s motion to exclude the illegal evidence was rejected and we are waiting for the written decision. The defence will appeal this decision to the High Criminal Court (VKS). We are convinced of our strong case and believe that the VKS will ultimately decide differently than this court,” said Pleslic’s defence lawyer Ivan Grzic.

Abuse of political influence

The anti-corruption office USKOK accuses Josipa Pleslic of having favoured an investor in the construction of wind farms in the Ervenik and Knin regions. She is suspected of numerous offences, including manipulating state audits, ordering subsidy allocations and manipulating conditions for the leasing of state land, including in the context of the wind farm scandal.

The indictment panel of the Zagreb County Court last Friday also rejected the defence’s motion to exclude evidence against Pleslic, a former state secretary and mayor of Knin, in a case in which she is accused of corruption along with businessman Ante Stanisic and former rector of the University of Zadar, Dijana Vican.

In this case, USKOK accuses Pleslic of having agreed with Stanisic that she would use her political influence and take all necessary measures to ensure that state and public institutions and state-owned companies act in favour of Stanisic’s company in their business dealings.

The defence still has the right to appeal

The prosecution also accuses Pleslic of asking Dijana Vican not to collect a guarantee in the amount of HRK 1.45 million (approx. 188,500 euros) that Stanisic’s company had deposited for a project involving the construction of a canteen with student residences and an access road on the new campus of the University of Zadar.

Although the indictment panel concluded that the evidence was lawful, the defence still has the right to appeal this decision before the High Criminal Court.

The indictment panel of the Zagreb County Court is also examining the validity of the indictment against Pleslic in the “Sport and Music” case, in which the defence has also requested access to the so-called first court orders as well as other documents that led the USKOK investigators to the former state secretary and former mayor of Knin.