The mayor of Kutina, Zlatko Babic of the ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), said on Friday he was leaving the party following accusations that he used his position to have some people hired as he wanted to clear his name before state institutions without having "the name of my party dragged through the mud."

Adrijana Cvrtila, head of the local utility company Eko Moslavina, whose majority owner is the town of Kutina, said recently that Babic and the head of the local HSLS party branch, Davor Kljakic, had exerted pressure on her to make her hire individual members of their parties as well as relatives of local councillors or raise their wages in order to ensure those councillors’ support for the town budget and budget revision.

Cvrtila has reported both Babic and Kljakic to the USKOK anti-corruption agency.

Babic has rejected the allegations, claiming that they were motivated by the fact that Cvrtila’s report on Eko Moslavina’s work in 2020 did not receive the support of any of the town council members.

Earlier this month, Babic said he was willing to cooperate with all state institutions that would possibly investigate the case, and when asked if he would step down, he said that he had been elected by the people and that they were the ones that would have to vote him out.