At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zagreb, four people were arrested on Thursday by the police authority of Krapinsko Zagorska County on suspicion of abuse of office and power and subsidy fraud.

The first suspect was – at the time of the alleged fraudulent acts – an employee of the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development. He allegedly used the user name and password of another employee of the agency and entered false data into the relevant system without any legal basis.

False claims to receive more money

In this way, he overstated the size of the family farms belonging to him and the three other suspects, thus representing a larger agricultural area eligible for subsidies from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).

According to the evidence gathered so far, all four suspects submitted applications for financial support for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022, falsely claiming that they were carrying out agricultural activities on larger areas than they actually owned.

They applied for and received a total of €77,000 from the EAFRD, an amount in excess of what they were entitled to.