Supreme Court upholds acquittals in the Market Stalls scandal

sud, presuda, suđenje, čekić — Pixabay / Ilustracija | Pixabay / Ilustracija

The Supreme Court on Monday decided to suspend the proceedings against Zagreb's late mayor Milan Bandic, and upheld the acquittal of two former city officials who were all charged with mismanagement of the public budget after they had allowed city-owned stalls and funds to be used for a campaign of an ultra-conservative NGO which petitioned the government to change the election law.

Oglas

Prosecutors alleged that Bandic, his assistant Ivica Lovric, and the CEO of the city-owned farmer's market management company, Zdenka Palac, had allowed the "In the Name of the Family" NGO to use city-owned market stalls to collect signatures in their 2014 attempt to bring about a referendum on an overhaul of the election law.

The indictment alleged that by providing these stalls for free, Bandic and the other two city officials had damaged the city budget to the tune of 308,000 kuna (€41,500).

In October 2018, the Zagreb County Court acquitted all three, but prosecutors lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court, which now ruled that the lower court had made the right decision.

Teme