The Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) has filed an indictment with the Zagreb District Court against the former State Secretary Josipa Pleslic, formerly Rimac, the former rector of the University of Zadar, Dijana Vican, the entrepreneur Ante Stanisic and his company for a series of criminal offences.

The prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday, without naming the defendants, that the charges were for influence peddling, bribery and abuse of office.

USKOK accuses Pleslic of using the influence she gained through years of service as mayor of Knin and as a member of parliament, as well as her position as state secretary in the Ministry of Administration, to agree with Stanisic to take all necessary measures to ensure that state and public institutions and state-owned companies act in his favour in their dealings with Stanisic’s company.

According to the indictment, Stanisic allowed the former politician to use a flat in Zagreb owned by his company Graditelj Svratista from January 2018 to May 2020 without paying utilities, resulting in illegal profits worth at least €3,715. Stanisic also procured and installed €2,660 worth of furnishings for their family home in Vodice.

Two charges have already been brought against Pleslic

The prosecution accuses Pleslic of asking Vican not to pass on €192,600 in guarantees to Stanisic’s company for the construction of a student canteen with pavilions and an access road at the New Campus of the University of Zadar.

After Stanisic’s offer came third in the tendering procedure, Pleslic asked the managing director of HZ Infrastruktura (Company for Management, Maintenance and Building of Railway Infrastructure) to find errors in other better offers in the procedure, which he refused to do. In the indictment, USKOK proposed that the defendants be deprived of their illegal profits.

Vican and Stanisic were arrested after the investigation began in November 2023, while Pleslic was not arrested because, according to media reports, the entire case stems from data found on her mobile phone during previous investigations.

Pleslic was arrested in May 2020 and two charges have already been brought against her. She is accused of favouring an investor in the construction of wind farms in the Ervenik and Knin areas. In a case arising from the wind farm affair, she is suspected of a number of criminal offences, including fixing state audits, ordering the awarding of grants and favouring changes to the conditions for leasing state land.