April the 11th, 2023 – It’s discouraging to say the least that more than half of the investigations DORH launches simply end up collapsing and being taken no further. With corruption and organised crime still posing a very serious threat to the wellbeing of society in Croatia, it has left many feeling even more disenchanted.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, when it comes to legal entities, last year, DORH tried harder with its accusations, but the results ended up being even weaker than they were back during the year before. This was showcased by the recently published data of the CBS, according to which last year, state attorneys’ offices made decisions on reports for 680 perpetrators of criminal offenses from among legal entities, which is an annual increase of 4.1%.
The number of those accused based on reports increased by 8.2%, from 73 to 79, but the judges declared 12.8% less legal entities responsible than they did back in in 2021, with a number of 34.
Over the past five years, the highest number of people found guilty was in 2020, a total of 49. The statistics also recorded the largest number of accused persons in that period in 2018, 99 of them, and the record number of reported cases was in 2019, when 768 were reported for criminal offenses and were also legal entities.
In the last year as well, criminal offenses against the economy prevail both in terms of reports and in accusations and judgments. Out of 680 reports, 365 of them refer to these criminal acts, while 109 reports were filed due to property damage, and 52 related to labour relations and social security issues. Increasing attention is being paid to the environment, violations against which are the reason for 16 DORH reports, much less than when there are criminal offenses against general safety (42) or official duties (32), and only one report refers to a criminal offense against intellectual property.
Of the 680 reports, 78% were rejected (531), any sort of investigation was suspended for 26 reports, and indictments were filed, therefore, only based on 123 reports, which is a 12 percent decrease compared to last year’s result.
Among the 34 legal entities found responsible by the courts following a DORH investigation, we also come across the largest number of criminal offenses against the economy (49), and the largest number of fines in the range of 10,000 kuna to 50,000 kuna, 27 of them to be more precise. Only one fine was imposed in the highest financial category above the sum of 100,000 kuna, and the was the case of an offense against general security.
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