ZAGREB, October 5, 2018 – The president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Davor Bernardić told reporters in parliament on Friday that “Croatia is in the hands of mafia.”
“Following a mysterious disappearance of documents from the Chief State Prosecutor’s Office, I believe it is entirely clear that Croatia is in the hands of mafia which is intentionally hiding documents. It is entirely clear that tentacles of this octopus are going all the way to the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leadership,” Bernardić said.
“I call on the citizens to stand against crime and corruption that are eating up our society. While small entrepreneurs are being penalised and are paying huge fines for a tiniest misdemeanour, big fish in Croatia are going free and documents from the prosecutor’s office are going missing,” Bernardić said.
“Today it is completely clear why Prime Minister Andrej Plenković had Chief Prosecutor Dinko Cvitan removed and why he and his family are walking around with three bodyguards today,” Bernardić said, adding that Plenković had not given them a single reason why Cvitan, who launched numerous investigation and posed a constant threat, had to go.
Bernardić said that one has to wonder if the police and the Prosecutor’s Office were capable of efficiently protecting citizens from crime and corruption. Asked if Chief State Prosecutor Dražen Jelenić should have resigned over the latest scandal, Bernardic said “this responsibility was on him.”
After a special meeting of the parliamentary Home Affairs and National Security Committee, held on Thursday following allegations of an information leak and abuse of the legal system, Chief State Prosecutor Jelenić said the municipal office of the Chief State Prosecution at this moment did not have the file from 2011 about busting a prostitution ring, stressing however there were no cover-ups.
Nacional weekly claims HDZ senior official Milijan Brkić had leaked the information to suspects under police surveillance in the 2011 elite prostitution case.
Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) president Krešo Beljak said that leaking information related to classified investigations and disappearance of the 2011 elite prostitution case file was a major disgrace for the entire judiciary and the political system, saying it was impossible for investigation documentation to go missing from the Prosecutor’s Office.
“This is criminal underground that is running the country and also a big disgrace for the entire judiciary and the political system.
