State Attorney-General Ivan Turudic held a press conference on the arrest of Vili Beros, the former Minister of Health. Beros was dismissed by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic immediately after his arrest became known.

The investigation against Beros was initiated by the EPPO.

“The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zagreb has opened an investigation against eight people, including the Minister of Health and the directors of two hospitals in Zagreb, as well as two companies on suspicion of accepting and giving bribes, abuse of position and authority and money laundering” the EPPO announced.

“There are reasonable grounds for suspicion that justify the investigation”

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic held a press conference on Friday and declared that he was “appalled, disappointed and angry”.

“As Prime Minister, I am personally appalled by the idea that anyone in the health system could use their position for personal gain or to favour someone else,” the Prime Minister said.

Ivan Turudic also addressed the public.

“I believed that there was a significant public interest because a government minister, Mr Beros, was arrested. It would be cynical not to mention his name when the whole country knows who it is. In addition to him, two other people have been arrested and a legal entity is being investigated for the offence of bribery. There are reasonable grounds for suspicion that justify the investigation. Searches have been carried out and the results are currently being analysed. The arrested persons will be brought before an investigating judge who will decide on their detention,” he explained.

Turudic confirmed that he had spoken to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic: “He called me and I told him what had happened.”

He explained why Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) is responsible for the investigation.

“We had no formal knowledge that EPPO was conducting a parallel investigation”

“The USKOK determined that it had jurisdiction because only part of it involved EU funds and no money was exchanged; it was the promise of a gift. We had no formal knowledge that EPPO was conducting a parallel investigation,” Turudic said.

When asked whether Hrvoje Petrac was involved, he did not want to give any names. Asked about the EPPO investigation, he emphasised that he could talk about the USKOK investigation, which he said lasted several weeks.

“As the State Attorney-General, I will soon determine which authority is responsible. Once this is done, the non-jurisdictional agency must hand over all the documents of the case to the competent agency. If EPPO provokes a jurisdictional conflict, I will act accordingly. I believe that EPPO does not have the evidence that USKOK has, and that USKOK does not have all the evidence that EPPO has. Based on the combined evidence, the competent body will decide on the scope and details of the proceedings,” Turudic said.

Asked whether USKOK would drop the charges against Petrac if the evidence was insufficient, he replied: “That is hypothetical.”

He pointed out that USKOK was the first to report on the case, followed by EPPO, which announced its investigation. According to him, Beros will be questioned by USKOK first: “I believe that EPPO does not adhere to the principle of loyal cooperation as prescribed by the regulation.”

“The offences include bribery, organised crime and influence peddling”

When asked if the minister’s arrest during his term was a reaction to critics, Turudic replied, “During my term, the USKOK arrested a minister in office,” adding a brief criticism of the media who had questioned his press conference.

When told that the Prime Minister criticises when DORH does not address the public, he was asked if he plans to do so more often. “In five months, this is my second press conference. That will be the rule, not once a month or every fortnight, but as needed,” he replied.

When asked about the involvement of Petrac’s father and sons, he explained that they were not involved in the USKOK investigation. He revealed the charges against Beros: “The offences include bribery, organised crime and influence peddling. Beros is not accused of accepting bribes, but of influence peddling. The bribe was accepted by someone else.”

In the end, he addressed the problem of the two separate investigations: “This is not good. But this damage was not caused by State Attorney’s Office or USKOK. Again, I refer to the principle of loyal co-operation. We did not know that EPPO was conducting an investigation,” concluded the State Attorney-General.