The Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) and the police on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of the mayor of the municipality of Murter, Toni Turcinov, on suspicion of abuse of office.

Apart from the mayor, a businessman was arrested in this case.

The law enforcement authorities said in a press release, in which they did not reveal the identity of the two suspects, that they would continue the criminal investigation in this case.

Media outlets report that Turcinov, who won the mayoral post as an independent candidate, came into the limelight in 2022 when it was discovered that he had used the credit card of the municipality to pay a bill in the amount of €1,560 in a brothel in Austria in 2019.

Turcinov claimed that he had used the wrong card by mistake and that the bill was for the cost of accommodation of a municipal delegation at the Scholosswirt Ebenthal hotel in Klagenfurt. The hotel management denied having issued the bill in question.

After this scandal, Turcinov resigned as a lawmaker in the county assembly of Sibenik-Knin County, but continued performing his mayoral duties in Murter-Kornati.