Indictment confirmed against four former ministers of Plenković's government

(Patria) - The Indictment Chamber of the Zagreb County Court today confirmed USKOK's indictment against four former ministers in the government of Andrej Plenković, in the affair dubbed by the media "Po babi i stričevima".

Former ministers Darko Horvat, Boris Milošević and Tomislav Tolušić will be tried on charges of irregularities in the allocation of 353,000 euros in financial support for areas inhabited by national minorities.

Josip Aladrović will be tried for two cases of rigged employment at the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO), which he headed at the time of the alleged offenses, i.e., before he became minister of labor and pension system.

Although all four have now left their positions, at the time the investigation against them was launched in February 2022, three of them - Darko Horvat, Boris Milošević and Josip Aladrović - were sitting in the current government.

The fourth, Tomislav Tolušić, had been dismissed seven months earlier, and Horvat was even arrested at the time and spent a short period in investigative detention.

In addition to them, the mayor of Županja, Damir Juzbašić, will also be tried, who is accused of asking Aladrović for a job "through connections".

All five defendants deny the charges, and during the proceedings so far, they have twice sought to have the evidence on which USKOK's indictment is based declared illegal, but both times they were rejected.

However, the High Criminal Court (VKS) had overturned the first decision rejecting their argument about illegal evidence, asking the Zagreb County Court to better justify its decision, which was done, and the repeated decision became final.

In addition to the four former ministers and Juzbašić, USKOK's indictment in this case initially included three other defendants, but they decided to confess to the crime and, based on an agreement with USKOK, were sentenced to suspended prison sentences or sentences replaced by community service.

Former assistant minister Darko Horvat, Ana Mandac, was sentenced to 11 months in prison replaced by community service.

Former director of the Directorate for Assisted Areas in the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds (MRRFEU) Katica Mišković was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of nine months with a two-year probation period, while Velimir Žunac, former state secretary in the same Ministry, was also sentenced to a suspended prison sentence, but of ten months with a three-year probation period.