The first indictee of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Croatia, Danijel Vinkovic, on Monday pleaded guilty to subsidy fraud worth €1 million, settling for a ten-month prison sentence which was replaced with community service.

The Zagreb County Court was to have decided today on the EPPO’s indictment against Vinkovic, who pleaded guilty before the indictment panel and reaching an agreement with the prosecution, the Croatian state news agency Hina learned at the court.

The businessman from Medjimurje was charged with applying to the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development for a 7.4 million kuna grant in 2020. Of that amount, 85 percent was from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the rest from the Croatian state budget.

According to the EPPO’s indictment, Vinkovic falsified documents on his eligibility for the aid. His application was rejected because the Paying Agency noticed that he did not meet the eligibility criteria.

The Paying Agency said earlier it paid 176,435 kuna in direct aid to Vinkovic from 2018 to March 2021 and 3.9 million kuna to his father from 2012 to May this year for farming equipment.

Vinkovic was indicted this past May and the trial was held at the Zagreb County Court which, under the law, is the only court in Croatia with jurisdiction over trials initiated by the EPPO.

(€1 = 7.5 kuna)