ZAGREB, March 26, 2019 – The Police Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (PNUSKOK) on Tuesday morning started arresting former executive officers in the Uljanik Group, and according to unofficial information among those arrested are former management board president Gianni Rossanda, his predecessor Anton Brajković and members of the former management board Marinko Brgić and Veljko Grbac.
Earlier in the morning police raided the home of former management board president Anton Brajković, who was replaced by Gianni Rossanda in 2013.
Apart from Rossanda, the former Uljanik management board also included Marinko Brgić and Veljko Grbac. Two vehicles, assumed to belong to the Ministry of the Interior, were parked outside the building where Rossanda lives and the former Uljanik management board president was allegedly not at home.
“I believe that former executives and management board members are the targets of the criminal investigation. I noticed members of the riot police outside Uljanik this morning already. I did not at the time know what that was all about, but I am happy to hear that things have started happening…I hope that someone will be held accountable for the situation in the shipyard,” the head of the striking committee, Boris Cerovac, told the press.
“Unfortunately, we are here because individuals in Uljanik did not do their jobs,” Cerovac concluded.
According to information Hina obtained from the Interior Ministry earlier this morning, law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities were searching the homes and offices of 12 suspects covered by the operation in Istria County. Spokeswoman Marina Mandic said the 12 suspects “are believed to have been implicated in possible wrongdoing” during the restructuring of the shipyard in Rijeka.
Pula Mayor Boris Miletić and Istria County Prefect Valter Flego, both of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS), said they were the first to call on the Chief Prosecutor’s Office and other relevant state institutions to investigate absolutely every segment of Uljanik’s business operations.
“We believe that it is exceptionally important, notably in the current uncertain circumstances in Uljanik, to remove every suspicion and establish the responsibility of all those that have brought Uljanik to the brink of disaster, including the inaction of the state,” Miletić and Flego said in their joint press release.
They also said that today’s police operation was the first time the state had reacted to Uljanik’s business performance. “Unfortunately, this is a reaction and not a pro-active move of the state which could have probably prevented the situation that Uljanik is facing today,” Miletić and Flego said.
Local opposition politician and Rijeka City councillor Hrvoje Burić said he was surprised the arrests had not taken place earlier. He supported the dock’s workers, expressing confidence that after the bankruptcy, the shipbuilding industry wold continue to exist in Pula and Rijeka.
More news about Uljanik can be found in the Business section.
