A Zagreb County Court investigating judge on Thursday upheld the motion by the USKOK anti-corruption office and ordered one-month investigative detention for the mayor of Kutina, Zlatko Babic, and three other suspects for bribing local councillors and influence peddling.

Babic, former Kutina Town Council chairman Davor Kljakic and independent councillors Drazen Kinderman and Darko Kolsek were remanded in custody because of the risk of interfering with witnesses.

Defence counsel for Babic said they would appeal the part of the ruling concerning detention because of the risk of interfering with witnesses, while USKOK would appeal because the court did not mention the risk of the suspects repeating the crimes in question.

USKOK claims that between November 2019 and April 2020, in an effort to secure a sufficient number of votes for the adoption of the budget, Babic promised to Kinderman that he would ensure a job for his son in the Eko Moslavina company, which is majority-owned by the town, in return for his vote. The mayor offered to Kolsek to increase his pay in return for his vote.

After Kinderman and Kolsek voted in favour of the budget, Babic, using his authority as mayor and leader of the local branch of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, demanded from Kljakic to arrange with Eko Moslavina CEO Adrijana Cvrtila to hire Kinderman’s son and increase Kolsek’s pay.

Babic also used his official position to demand from Kljakic to order Cvrtila to hire or extend employment contracts for family members or persons with whom he had private or business connections, regardless of the actual hiring needs of Eko Moslavina, USKOK said.

Cvrtila eventually reported both Babic and Kljakic to USKOK.