ZAGREB, September 11, 2019 – The trial of former prime minister’s chief of staff Tomislav Saucha and his secretary Sandra Zeljko begins at Zagreb’s County Court on Thursday, in a case dubbed “travel expenses” in which the USKOK anti-corruption office accuses them of falsifying travel requests and pocketing HRK 1 million in the process.
USKOK contends that Saucha, as former PM Zoran Milanović’s chief of staff, falsified travel requests together with Zeljko, his then secretary, and that she continued to do so after Saucha no longer held that job.
An investigation was initially launched only into Saucha, who was an MP of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) at the time, and was later expanded to Zeljko, who was initially described as a key witness. The investigation became final in August 2017, when a Zagreb County Court panel of judges granted USKOK’s appeal against an earlier decision whereby a judge ruled that expanding the investigation was unlawful.
USKOK’s decision to expand the investigation was first quashed when Saucha’s vote was crucial for Finance Minister Zdravko Marić’s surviving a no-confidence vote in parliament, although he had signed a petition for the vote to be held.
He dismissed suspicions that somebody had “bought” him, claiming he changed his mind about the Marić vote of confidence to avoid a snap election.
More news about the controversial politician can be found in the Politics section.
