Ex-Petrinja mayor, his son and three businessmen caught up in corruption probe

In addition to Dumbovic and his son Darko, the investigation is being conducted against three  executives of local companies: Dejan Dobredevic, Goran Norkovic and Zlatko Zagorec, who were involved in the suspected shenanigans in public procurement.

USKOK proposed the pretrial detention for all of the suspects.

Dumbovic's defence attorney Drazen Ivanic said the Dubmovic presented his defence denying that he had committed any crime. The lawyer added that Dumbovic had cooperated with the investigators.

USKOK investigators have searched the suspects' homes and cars and then transferred the suspects to Zagreb for questioning.

Unofficial sources have said that one of the companies under suspicion is Titan Commerce, founded in April 2015 two years after Dumbovic became the mayor of Petrinja. Media outlets had previously reported that the company's revenues grew by millions by year.

Dumbovic was in office until June last year, when he was replaced by HDZ's Magdalena Komes who won the last local election.