This is the second head of prison system in six months which is involved in a scandal.
Anđelko Dundić, Assistant Minister of Justice and head of Croatia’s prison system, was reported earlier this year for aggravated theft. The criminal complaint was filed by warden of the prison in Dubrovnik where Dundić worked until the mid-April, when he was appointed to his new duty and moved to Zagreb, reports Jutarnji List on November 21, 2016.
He worked at the Dubrovnik prison as a correctional officer. The criminal complaint against Dundić was filed about the time he was appointed as assistant minister. The Ministry of Justice was asked whether Justice Minister Ante Šprlje knew that the complaint had been filed against his assistant minister. The Ministry sent a very vague answer. “The Ministry, including Assistant Minister Anđelko Dundić, are aware that investigations are taking place which are secret, which means we are not able to comment on them.”
However, the State Attorney’s Office in Dubrovnik confirmed that investigation is ongoing against Dundić. It stated that “in mid-April 2016, a criminal complained against Dundić was received”. Asked what has happened with the complaint in the past seven months, the State Attorney’s Office responded that additional inquiries are being conducted.
According to local media, Dundić has been accused of unlawfully taking a TV set from former prisoner Halil Abdurahmani from Albania in 2012. Abdurahmani was serving his sentence in Dubrovnik for human trafficking and drug smuggling, and when he was released and left the prison, he forgot to take the TV set which he brought there earlier with him. Dundić allegedly forged Abdurahmani’s signature on prison documents and took the TV himself.
Dundić is one of longtime members of MOST in Dubrovnik. During the parliamentary election campaign in the fall of 2015, he wrote posts on his Facebook page where he praised MOST leader Božo Petrov.
Interestingly, Dundić is the second assistant minister for the prison system from MOST. In April this year, Justice Minister Ante Šprlje (MOST) had to fire his previous assistant for the prison system, also a member of MOST, Slavko Kovačević. He was dismissed just a month after his appointment, after it was revealed that in 2004 he was convicted of causing serious bodily injury to a minor.
