Kolinda pardoned tycoon and fugitive Leon Sulić

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović pardoned 25 people, including Leon Sulić, a tycoon and former fugitive, based on the proposal of the Pardon Commission. Sulić, as stated in the decision published in Narodne novine, has been released from serving the unserved part of his prison sentence of one year and 10 months. It is not yet known whether Sulić was pardoned for the entire sentence of 22 months in prison, or for the part of the five-year prison sentence he received for malversations at Croatia bus, reports the Patria News Agency.

The Ministry of Justice reportedly opposed the pardon of the controversial tycoon, who was also a donor to the HDZ at one time, but the Ministry's opinion is non-binding, so the pardon did occur.

Judicial institutions have been dealing with Sulić for about fifteen years. At the end of the 90s, Sulić participated in the recapitalization of Croatia bus, and during that process, the employees of that transport company repeatedly filed complaints against Sulić with the DORH.

Despite warnings, the first complaint against the tycoon was filed only at the beginning of 2001. At the end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, the former Chief State Attorney Mladen Bajić requested the freezing of Sulić's management rights in the company due to the accusations of Croatia bus employees. However, in 2003, Milan Bandić, then an SDP member and deputy mayor of the City of Zagreb, got involved, proposing a reprogramming of Sulić's debts to the City.

His proposal was ultimately rejected, and in 2007, he was convicted of economic crime in the company Croatia bus, amounting to 15.5 million kuna, writes Index.