Some presidential pardons in Croatia.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović has made a decision to grant pardons to 25 convicts, including Leon Sulić, former director of Croatia Bus company who was jailed for one year and 10 months for the crime of abuse of trust in business transactions. The President’s decision means that Sulić will not have to serve the remaining part of his prison sentence, reports Vecernji List on February 3, 2016.
The Office of the President said that the decision on Sulić’s pardon took into account his difficult medical status (angina pectoris, heart attack and stroke) which makes it necessary for him to go for daily medical treatments. It also took into account that the crime was committed a long time ago. “In addition, we want to emphasize that in the case of Leon Sulić, the act of pardon exclusively and only refers to the sentence of imprisonment for the crime of abuse of trust in business transactions. He has not been pardoned in regards to the claims and damages sought by Croatia Bus company”, said the Office of the President.
Sulić was twice convicted for business crimes in Croatia Bus. He was first convicted in 2007 for fraud worth 15.5 million kuna and was sentenced to seven years in prison. The Supreme Court later reduced his sentence to five years. Sulić has served that sentence, but in 2014 he was again sentenced to one year and ten months in prison because he illegally acquired an apartment worth more than 589,000 kuna.
President also pardoned Danko Seiter, whose unfinished one-year prison term has been replaced with a suspended sentence. Seiter was a member of the Board of Directors of Karlovačka Banka and was convicted of forgiving loans worth a million kuna given to entrepreneur Nikola Hanžel. Through his company Lana – Karlovačka Tiskara, Hanžel was the largest single donor to Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović during her presidential campaign when he donated 197,000 kuna. The Office of the President said that Seiter had served half of his sentence and that he was pardoned exclusively due to health reasons (three stents he received due to a heart attack).
Another pardoned convict is Vanja Goldberger, whose unfinished two year and six months long prison sentence has been replaced with a suspended sentence. Goldberger used to be an advisor to Vladimir Šeks when he was the Speaker of the Parliament and was convicted of abuse of narcotics and illegal possession of weapons. Vladimir Šeks is currently a constitutional affairs advisor to the President.
