The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zagreb (Croatia) launched an investigation against three persons and one trading company on suspicion of committing subsidy fraud and falsifying documents with the aim of obtaining non-refundable support in the amount of around 2.5 million euros intended for reconstruction after the earthquake, financed from the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF). All the suspects were arrested yesterday (April 29, 2024) at the request of the EPPO.
It is suspected that in the period from January 2022 to October 2023, one of the suspects, the owner of the suspected trading company, committed criminal acts of subsidy fraud and document forgery. Based on the results of the inspections, it was established that he submitted an application on behalf of his trading company to the public invitation of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. In the invitation, as a mandatory condition of acceptance, it was prescribed that it refers to the restoration of the energy infrastructure, energy plants, energy systems and related buildings that were damaged in the earthquake that struck sisačko-moslavina&ccaron to ž county on December 28 and 29, 2020.
In order for the application to be successful, the owner of the company had to submit findings and opinions about the damage to the electric power infrastructure owned by that company. He also had to submit proof of testing of the medium voltage cable, and in general, it was important to show that the damage was caused by an earthquake.
There is a well-founded suspicion that the owner of the company arranged the falsification of the requested documentation, and it is suspected that he did so with the help of the other two suspects – a permanent court expert for construction and a licensed electrical engineer. It is suspected that they untruthfully stated that the aforementioned power infrastructure was damaged in the earthquake, and that the permanent court construction expert unjustifiably increased the cost of rehabilitating the existing power network.
After that, the owner of the company attached falsified documents to the application submitted to the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, which awarded him approximately EUR 2.5 million from the FSEU – of which EUR 1.7 million was paid out. to his company for expenses that were in fact unacceptable.
The investigative actions were carried out in cooperation with the Croatian Police National Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (PNUSKOK) and the Croatian Independent Sector for Financial Investigations of the Tax Administration.
In order to secure illegally acquired property benefits, the EPPO proposed to the investigating judge the blocking of assets and funds on the account of the suspected trading company.
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