ZAGREB, 23 Feb 2022 - The Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) on Wednesday issued an indictment against former Knin mayor and state secretary Josipa Rimac of the HDZ party and another 26 suspects, including several former office-holders, on corruption and abuse of office charges.

The USKOK investigated this case after a scandal dubbed "wind parks" broke out, but the indictment, which was lodged with Zagreb County Court today, does not refer to the circumstances surrounding the wind parks case, but to alleged irregularities in the allocation of state aid to farmers and grants to businesses, unfair employment and state exams from 2017 to 2020.

Concerning the state aid allocation, former economy assistant minister Ana Mandac is one of the suspects, and her recent testimony resulted in Saturday's arrest of Minister Darko Horvat, who is implicated in the disbursement of grants to ineligible businesses in 2018 when he served as the economy minister.

With regards the favouring of applicants who were expected to pass the state exam to get employment in the state administration, Gabrijela Žalac, former minister for regional development and EU funds, and Ružica Njavro, former Agriculture Ministry chief of staff, are charged with those offences.

The former mayor of Gračac, Nataša Turbić of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), and several business people are suspected of giving bribes to Rimac.

Rimac's lawyer, Lidija Horvat, told Hina that they had not yet officially received a copy of the indictment.

After the wind parks scandal broke out, Rimac was arrested in May 2020, and spent 124 days in pre-trial detention.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, June 4, 2020 - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) court of honour in its Sibenik-Knin branch on Thursday afternoon decided to expel former state secretary Josipa Rimac and Knin councillor Marinko Tokmakcija from the party after it had earlier in the morning requested more information and an explanation of the entire situation.

Rimac and Tokmakcija were unconditionally expelled from the HDZ, the head of the county branch of the ruling party, Nediljko Dujic, told a press conference explaining that the court of honour did not decide on disciplinary measures this morning because he was not there to motion the procedure.

He added that the meeting however continued in the afternoon and a unanimous decision was reached to unconditionally expel Rimac and Tokmakcija from the party.

"The decision to unconditionally expel Rimac and Tokmacija from the party was adopted for well known reasons that have occurred over the past few days," said Dujic.

Zagreb County Court on Saturday ordered one-month investigative custody for Rimac and six other suspects in the wind park corruption case.

After an extensive police operation in a case involving the construction of a wind park, the USKOK anti-corruption agency on Saturday launched an investigation into 13 business people and state officials, including Rimac, suspected of influence peddling, abuse of office and authority, and bribery.

ZAGREB, June 2, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said on Tuesday that Josipa Rimac, a former state secretary arrested in the wind park scandal, had once said that he was not a Croat, adding that he cannot believe that someone who is a state secretary can behave like an "agent for an American investment company."

Asked if he was surprised by the wind park scandal and its extent, Milanovic said that while he was prime minister, Rimac, a former Knin mayor, had said that he was not a Croat and that he did not love his people.

"Then we paid a couple of million kunas for a monument at the Knin railway station. My government did not commission it. We financed it with a feeling of joy and patriotism. Then she brought those troublemakers to Knin and now she is in investigative custody. It is unbelievable that the state secretary in the Public Administration Ministry has the nerve to behave like an agent for an American investment company," he said.

Responding to a reporter's remark that Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Coric shifted the responsibility for the wind park scandal onto his government because all agreements regarding renewable energy sources were signed during his term in office, Milanovic said that Coric was not telling the truth.

Milanovic said that at the end of his term, the then relevant minister, Ivan Vrdoljak, adopted "some sort of decision," after which the government led by Tihomir Oreskovic was in power for a brief time and then came the current government which, Milanovic said, has had four and a half years to "nip that in the bud."

"If a minister had some authority in my government and could make some decisions on his own, I do not know about that," he claimed and explained that at one stage wind parks were interesting for investors because enterprises were stimulated to invest in that form of energy production.

With regard to the March for Life is held on the day of election silence, Milanovic said that was an initiative that advocated the fight against abortion and is led by a woman who previously worked for Human Rights Watch, adding that he has a problem with the concept of election silence in any case.

"That doesn't mean anything. I think that lady is not a candidate on any election slate. It's all the same to me, the people will decide. That might bother some people and they will go to the polls and vote for someone else or maybe they didn't plan to vote at all," he said.

ZAGREB, May 30, 2020 - Josipa Rimac, the Public Administration Ministry State Secretary who was fired on Friday, presented her defense to anti-corruption investigators but she did not answer any questions, and after spending the night in detention she could be taken to the investigating judge on Saturday, her lawyer said.

Lawyer Zeljko Gulisija told the HTV public broadcaster on Friday that his client could be taken to the investigating judge on Saturday if the anti-corruption office USKOK asked that she be remanded in custody.

Gulisija said that his client was "shocked by today's events" after earlier in the day she was arrested with 12 other persons, including the CEO of the state-owned Hrvatske Sume forest management company, Krunoslav Jakupcic, the HDZ mayor of Gracac, Natasa Turbic, and Assistant Economy Minister Ana Mandac, whom the government also dismissed on Friday.

Sources close to the investigation say that Rimac is suspected of influence peddling and receiving a bribe of €45,000 to favour the C.E.M.P. company, which built a wind park near Knin.

She is also suspected of exerting pressure on Hrvatske Sume to make it change its decision not to green-light the Krs-Padjane wind park, built by C.E.M.P.

USKOK believes that Hrvatske Sume CEO Krunoslav Jakupcic and Ivan Melvan of the company's branch in Split were the ones who eventually approved the wind park project in early 2020.

Jakupcic's attorney Vladimir Teresak said that his client had presented extensive defense and that he was charged with acting in line with Rimac's instructions.

He said that Teresak pleaded not guilty to the charges.

C.E.M.P. on Friday issued a statement dismissing allegations of illegal conduct in the project, claiming it could prove the lawfulness of its actions with existing documentation on the project.

Investigation against Josipa Rimac and her husband has been stopped. 

Rimac loses her immunity after only 7 days in parliament