In one of more remarkable public appearances so far, the boss of Croatian football says that media reports that he allegedly had ordered an assassination of State Attorney Dinko Cvitan are not true.
The controversial boss of Croatian football Zdravko Mamić came earlier today to the headquarters of the Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) in order to tell prosecutors that he was not the one who allegedly ordered an assassination of State Attorney Dinko Cvitan. “I have no connection with the case. I have recognized myself in these media reports and I came to prosecutors to tell them that I did not have anything to do with it”, said Mamić, reports Novi List on July 21, 2016.
In recent days, the State Attorney started receiving an increased level of protection due to intelligence information that someone had ordered his assassination. The assassination has allegedly been ordered by someone whose lucrative illegal activities were endangered by the Office of the State Attorney. Mamić has been repeatedly arrested and there are several court cases against him.
“Of course, there is always concern about threats, not only to the State Attorney, but we can only say that all those who are a possible target of perpetrators of crimes will always be under special protection, and send a message to all criminals that they should not try to influence the judicial system”, said earlier Justice Minister Ante Šprlje regarding the media reports.
The Nacional weekly published this week information that a “powerful Croat” had ordered the murder of State Attorney Cvitan, because he “broke up his business empire, interrupted his criminal plans and prevented money laundering through offshore accounts”. Although the article never mentioned the name of the “powerful Croat”, the description matches perfectly with Mamić.
Former Dinamo Zagreb chairman Zdravko Mamić said on Thursday that the allegations were “fabrications of dirty brains”, and added that it was all part of a politically motivated persecution directed against him and the club that he represented. He said that his case was an abuse of state institution which are persecuting citizens and harassing the public. He wondered how, given the seriousness of the charges, he was allowed to leave the prosecution’s headquarters where he asked to undergo a lie detector test.
Mamić added that the his persecution was conceived by former Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, who “appointed everybody” and therefore the State Attorney's Office does not even investigate charges against him. He also dismissed claims of having a strong relationship with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and judges of the Constitutional Court. “If I knew then that I was under surveillance at the time, I would not have given donations to her political campaign”, said Mamić. He also said that former HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko had to resign, although he did not do anything wrong, because he was “a threat to all those who fight against Croatia”.
Mamić repeated that he did not damage Dinamo in his business dealings and that he would prove in court that it was all a farce, fiction and a political set-up against him and his family.”Do not be deceived by their stories, we are all Croats”, said Mamić.
