The Croatian Ministry of the Interior said it was looking into how the two men had crossed the border as there was no official information on it.
“The Ministry does not have data on the persons in question having crossed the state border and has been conducting checks to establish the circumstances that preceded their arrival at the prison in Zagreb,” the ministry said in response to a query by Hina.
The warrant for the arrest of the two men, who have both Croatian and Bosnia and Herzegovina citizenship, was issued by Croatia at the end of May 2020 after a Zagreb County Court investigating judge ruled, at the request of the USKOK anti-corruption office, that persons arrested in the wind park affair be placed in custody.
Among them was the prime suspect, a former State Secretary at the Public Administration Ministry and former HDZ mayor of Knin, Josipa Rimac, whom Bašić, owner of the Lager company from Posušje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Stipić, an executive in that company, had allegedly offered a bribe of €45,000 to get preferential treatment in obtaining permits for the construction of the Krš-Pađene wind park.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina made rulings on Bašić’s and Stipić’s extradition in November and December 2020 respectively.
The two businessmen are currently the only suspects in the case to be in custody since Rimac was released at the end of September 2020 and prior to her release, also released were the HDZ mayor of Gračac, Nataša Turbić, a secretary to the Agriculture Minister, Ružica Njavro, Šibenik businessman Ante Sladić, and Knin town councillor Marinko Tokmačija.
One of those implicated in the case, when the investigation was last expanded, is former minister Gabrijela Žalac, who allegedly asked Rimac to fix her brother’s public service test.
The investigation also covers a State Secretary at the War Veterans Ministry, Ivan Vukić, who is charged with having interceded to help Minister Tomislav Medved’s chauffeur pass an exam, as well as Nevenka Benić, a state secretary at the same ministry.
Bašić and Stipić are to be questioned by USKOK investigators and the investigation in the case is expected to be completed by mid-2021.
