Outgoing State Attorney-General Zlata Hrvoj-Sipek said on Wednesday that the anti-corruption agency USKOK contacted the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) after the EPPO did not respond to her office's invitation to a meeting to clarify jurisdiction in the case of the Faculty of Geodesy.

“We contacted the EPPO office in Zagreb to arrange a meeting to discuss the relevant circumstances and determine whether the State Attorney’s Office (DORH) or the EPPO has jurisdiction over this case. This meeting did not take place and USKOK had to turn to the EPPO,” Hrvoj-Sipek said in parliament after her successor Ivan Turudic was sworn in.

There will be more unanswered questions about jurisdiction

The Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) sent a letter to the EPPO office in Croatia on Tuesday asking for a final decision on the investigation and a court decision on the issue of jurisdiction in the case of alleged subsidy fraud at the Zagreb Faculty of Geodesy.

“USKOK has requested the facts on which the EPPO bases its jurisdiction. There is still a long way to go before the State Attorney’s Office decides to take over the case,” said Hrvoj-Sipek.

Asked whether Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic was putting pressure on European prosecutors with his comments on the case, she said that politicians had a right to their views and comments.

“What I can say is that DORH, regardless of the impression created in the public during my term in office and that of my predecessors, bases its decisions solely on facts and the law,” she said.

Since the EPPO office in Croatia has only been operating for less than three years, Hrvoj-Sipek expects that there will be more unanswered questions about jurisdiction in individual cases in the near future.

“These messages were exchanged at the time when he was a judge”

“The relevant regulations leave room for different interpretations, but I believe that these issues will be resolved to our mutual satisfaction in a spirit of loyal co-operation,” she said.

As for the handover of duties to her successor, Hrvoj-Sipek said that this would take place at the end of her term of office in May.

“A report on the work of DORH is being prepared. It is a public document and there is no reason why Mr Turudic should not know it. As for the cases, we will have to wait until he takes office,” she said.

All judicial officials should exercise caution in their communications to preserve the impression of impartiality and autonomy, Hrvoj-Sipek said in a comment on the text messages exchanged between Mr Turudic and former state secretary Josipa Rimac, as well as his car ride with football mogul Zdravko Mamic at the time Mamic was indicted.

“There is nothing to add to that. These messages were exchanged at the time when he was a judge and not the State Attorney-General,” said Hrvoj-Sipek.