ZAGREB, Sept 19, 2020 – Nova Gradiska Mayor and SDP lawmaker Vinko Grgic, who was questioned by the USKOK office on Saturday concerning an investigation in influence paddling and public tender rigging, denied any wrongdoing and said that he was ready to resign for moral reasons, Grgic’s lawyer said.
“My client has presented an extensive defence, and denied his responsibility and any involvement in corrupt deals,” the lawyer Zoran Mataic said after the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) had interrogated Grgic in Zagreb.
On Thursday evening USKOK launched an investigation into the CEO of oil pipeline operator Janaf, Dragan Kovacevic, and another twelve people on suspicion of influence peddling, bribery, illicit preferential treatment, and aiding and abetting in these crimes.
The main suspect, the Elektrocentar company’s founder Kreso Petek, allegedly gave Kovacevic HRK 1.96 million in reward for business deals awarded to his company by Janaf since September 2019. He is also suspected of giving HRK 100,000 to the Nova Gradiska mayor, in reward for helping award a deal in a public tender to a consortium that included Petek’s company.
Mataic said that Grgic knew Petek, however, he had denied any claims that the Elektrocentar director had proposed any kickbacks or that he had accepted any proposal of such nature.
The lawyer said that Grgic was willing to step down from his mayoral office for moral reasons as well as if the possibility of repeating the criminal offences he is charged with could be cited as the reason for placing him in custody.
As for media reports about the leak of information from the preliminary investigation into this case of the suspected influence-peddling, public tender rigging, and illicit kickbacks which implicates 13 suspects, Grgic’s lawyer said that they knew nothing about the information leak.
On Saturday, an investigating judge is expected to make a decision on the pretrial detention of Grgic and the mayor of Velika Gorica, Drazen Barisic of the HDZ party.
On Friday evening Zagreb County Court’s investigating judge imposed 30-day pre-trial detention on 10 suspects in this case.
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