Following a police report, the USKOK anti-corruption agency has launched an investigation into the head of the Tax Administration's Service for Strategy, Information and Electronic Services, Slaviša Penava, and businessman Denis Bilić, suspected of having given Penava a bribe of €2,500.

Without disclosing the suspects’ identities, the police and USKOK said that in the period from November 2021 to 18 March 2022 Penava arranged with Bilić, who had been hired by a company to put in order its poorly kept ledger books and align them with Tax Administration data, to do what is necessary for the company’s bank account to be unblocked in exchange for a reward.

He was also expected to make sure the ledger books were out in order and aligned with Tax Administration data.

In line with their agreement, and in exchange for a reward of €2,500 which Bilić gave him on 3 December 2021, Penava asked the head of the Tax Administration’s branch in the Zagreb district of Peščenica to provide him with information as to the actions the company concerned had to take in order to secure an urgent unblocking of its account.

He also sought information on the type of documents and corrections to be submitted as well as data on irregularities identified in the company’s business operations by tax officers.

Penava then provided Bilić with those data as well as with data from the information system for the exchange of VAT data for a company that was a supplier of the company concerned and to which he as a taxpayer did not have access.

The data was then used to put into order the company’s business books and to correct VAT forms for the Tax Administration, which enabled the unblocking of the company’s bank account by the Tax Administration and the continuation of its operations, the prosecutors said.

USKOK has asked that both suspects be remanded in custody, on which a decision is to be made by the competent judge of the Zagreb County Court.