Investigation against Josipa Rimac and her husband has been stopped.
The Office for the Suppression of Organized Crime and Corruption (USKOK) announced yesterday that the investigation against Josipa Rimac, the former Mayor of Knin and current HDZ’s Member of Parliament, and her husband Danijel has been stopped. However, USKOK announced that they have indicted Ana Marija Radić, director of the Administration for Areas of Special State Concern, reports Vecernji List on January 22, 2016.
The investigation against Rimac, who was suspected of inciting others to abuse their official powers, was stopped because “it has not been established that there is a relevant degree of suspicion”. In other words, USKOK obviously considered that what they had found during the investigation was not sufficient to raise indictment against Rimac and her husband. Specifically, the statement infers that the suspicions included in the criminal complaint against Rimac have not been proven as valid, which is considered the legal minimum for an indictment to be issued. There have been rumours in the judicial circles for a while that USKOK will drop its case against Josipa Rimac because the key witness has died.
On the other hand, even though the investigation against her has formally been suspended, Josipa Rimac will most likely still have to appear in court as a witness. The reason for this is the fact that USKOK has charged Ana Marija Radić with abusing her position from mid-2008 to the end of 2009 by making a series of unlawful acts which made it possible for Rimac and her husband to acquire two condominium units in a building in Knin. In that way, the family of Josipa Rimac has obtained material gain worth 548,653 kuna.
The investigation against Josipa Rimac was launched in June last year, and before the parliamentary elections held on 8 November she was the manager of HDZ’s campaign. However, due to the investigation against her, she was dropped from a list of potential ministers in the new Croatian government which is expected to be confirmed later today.
