The Croatian independent union of customs workers said on Monday that the anti-corruption measures at the Customs Administration mostly targeted lower-level officers and were not aimed at the management.

The union’s leaders met with the director of the Customs Administration, Mario Demirovic, for talks on the ration of customs officers as a measure to combat corruption.

The union said in a statement after the meeting that the program was “a sort of damage control, a pro forma anti-corruption measure that comes after the latest corruption scandals at lower levels of the customs service.”

The program is not good because it targets mostly lower-level customs officers and a negligible number of managers, without tackling the roots of corruption, the union said, adding that the most serious forms of corruption actually involve high-level customs officials.

As an example, the union cited the case of former Customs Administration director Hrvoje Covic, who was not suspended or dismissed by the finance minister, but stayed on until the expiry of his five-year term despite the fact that a criminal case was opened against him, the union said, warning that at the same time many lower-level customs officials are suspended for much milder forms of corruption.