Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic said on Wednesday he was not surprised by a new round of arrests of those suspected of corruption in Zagreb, adding he expected everything to be thoroughly investigated.

The police and the USKOK anti-corruption office said earlier today they had arrested five persons, including a former director of the Zagreb City Cemeteries, Patrik Segota, who was later employed in Zagrebparking.

According to off-the-record reports, his sister Tamara Segota and two female employees of a land-registry office have also been arrested.

Speaking at a press conference convened following the arrests, Tomasevic said he had already announced this because “the tentacles of this obvious corruption octopus in Zagreb and the city companies are large and widespread.”

He reiterated that the new city administration was willing to cooperate with all investigators so that all suspicious deals and corrupt activities were fully investigated.

‘Employees who weren’t involved in wrongdoing need not fear’

Tomasevic said the city employees who were doing their job professionally and had not been involved in wrongdoing need not fear, while he would not tolerate those who had abused office.

He said he had not been in contact with Segota since becoming mayor but that, as a city councillor, he had been extremely critical of how he was running the City Cemeteries.

Tomasevic said he had no idea why all these arrests were being made now but added it was key that all investigations had an epilogue in court.

He said the timing was odd because everything started happening after the death of the previous mayor, Milan Bandic, and the inauguration of a new city administration, but “better late than never.”

Several of Bandic’s associates were arrested on suspicion of corruption on 30 June and 1 July.