ZAGREB, April 14, 2019 - The Police Directorate said on Saturday that, as part of an investigation into the fake text messages case, other offences against computer systems, programmes and data were uncovered but that, due to confidentiality, it could not say more, so there is no confirmation of media reports that Milijan Brkić, vice president of the ruling HDZ party and parliament deputy speaker, was questioned as a suspect in those offences.

The media reported on Saturday that Brkić was questioned two days before for intercepting his wife's emails by using the services of Franjo Varga, a former Interior Ministry IT expert accused in the fake texts case.

The media said Brkić's brother Jozo was also accused in the interception case and that the police allegedly found out about it by examining the computers and documents seized in the case against Varga and Blaž Curić, former chauffeur of Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolušić and a close friend of Brkić. The USKOK anti-corruption office suspects Varga and Curić in the fake texts case of obstructing the collection of evidence and of aiding and abetting in the commission of said crime.

Commenting on the allegations late on Saturday, Brkić said in an SMS to Hina that it was a disgrace "what individuals have turned state institutions into," neither confirming nor denying that he is a suspect.

In February, after an indictment was filed in the fake texts case, Brkić said he was neither included nor mentioned in the indictment against Varga and Curić which the Osijek County Court upheld on March 18. After spending the maximum six months in investigative custody, Varga and Curić were released.

Prosecutors contend that Varga created fake text messages, including for former football mogul Zdravko Mamić, and that last September Curić warned Varga that he was under investigation.

After the affair came to light, the media claimed that Varga's services were also used by former HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko and Brkić, both of whom denied the accusations.

In late November, the media published details from Varga's deposition in which he talked about his relationship with Mamić and cooperation with Karamarko, Brkić, former presidential advisor Vlado Galić, and former Agrokor owner Ivica Todorić.

Brkić, Karamarko and Todorić were questioned as part of the investigation. Todorić was questioned due to suspicions that Varga was linked to SMS correspondence among an informal group that drew up a law on emergency management in strategically important companies dubbed Lex Agrokor.

More news about HDZ can be found in the Politics section.

Independent parliamentarian Vlaho Orepić discussed various issues surrounding the Croatian political and social structure, claiming that ''the failure to properly deal with fake (fictitious) residences by the authorities is politically motivated and purposely left unresolved with the aim of influencing the outcomes of the upcoming elections,''

The fact that there is no real intention of the current authorities to remove fake residences from the electoral register and bring some order [to that situation] and accordingly, Croatia conducts a policy of banalisation when it comes to the conditions for obtaining Croatian citizenship were grounds for a press conference held by independent MP Vlaho Orepić.

On Tuesday, February the 5th, 2019, on the premises of the Croatian Parliament, Vlaho Orepić held a press conference on which he once again pointed out to the media and the public the problem of fake residence registration.

The fact that this issue remains unresolved means people who have their permanent residence in the Republic of Croatia are denied the right to elect their own authorities, and Croatian citizens living outside the homeland (whose voting rights are indisputable and come directly from what is written in the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (Ustav Republike Hrvatske) are also deceived in this way.

The conclusion which has now been arrived to, given that a response from the relevant minister wasn't given even after the issue was brought up in parliament, is that there is simply no sincere and real intention of the current government to even try to tackle an extremely important issue so that honest elections can be carried out in the future. Orepić has therefore also called upon political and social structures to take a stance and engage with the aim of protecting legality of upcoming elections and democratic processes in the Republic of Croatia.

"What worries me, and what has inspired a series of both formal and informal reactions from me, even this press conference, is the fact that false (fictitious) residences are politically motivated and protected with the aim of influencing the outcomes of the electoral process(es) in the Republic of Croatia. My goal is to put an end to fake residence [registration] and the type of politics which permits that same cheating in the elections. My goal is fair elections,'' stated Orepić.

According to new statistics, Croatia has fewer than four million inhabitants (approximately 3.750 million), according to official data we can count almost 4,175,000 people with health insurance and as many as 3,746,286 voters. The fact that the number of voters isn't actually correct has been indicated by the data of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), published in July 2017, which states that just children under the age of fourteen alone which are registered amount to 600,000. It's totally clear that Croatia has no accurate and publicly available list of citizens and voters, nor does it have the political will to have this problem solved.

From the mentioned numerical indicators, as well as from the legal definition of residence, which reads as - residence is the place and address in the Republic of Croatia where the person permanently resides in order to exercise his/her rights and obligations related to living interests such as family, professional, economic, social, cultural and social other interests - it's clear that a lot of people who don't meet these conditions have been entered into the electoral register.

They are listed [on the electoral register] on the basis of their false registrations of residence in the Republic of Croatia and thus, in addition to voting and other rights, they enjoy economic ones which come with residing in the Republic of Croatia.

That this is politically motivated has also been indicated by the fact that the second day after Vlaho Orepić's dismissal as Minister of the Interior, the disclosure and deletion procedure of false residence registrations in the Republic of Croatia (mainly regarding citizens from neighbouring Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) was suspended. Activities related to the abolition of fake residences are a legal obligation of the chief of police administrations, but in spite of that fact, all of those who were engaged in carrying out this work were prevented from continuing with it.

While Vlaho Orepić was the Minister of the Interior, in just two and a half months, about 45,000 fake residence registrations were removed, and over the next four months that number rose to 75,000. The estimates are that at the present moment, there are at least 150,000 fictitious residence registrations in the Republic of Croatia, which brings a whole range of election process outcomes as well as the legality of the authorities at all levels into question.

"I hope all political, judicial and other social structures will realise the importance of this issue. From the government, the security services and the justice system, I expect an urgent reaction, just as was done with the recent attempt to try to discredit the Minister of Agriculture (Tomislav Tolušić). I expect from the umbrella of war veteran associations to stand up for the legality of the election process in the Republic of Croatia, especially with the engagement of Mr. Josip Đakić as a parliamentary representative and as a war veteran.

I expect the support of the President of the Croatian Parliament, Mr. Gordan Jandroković, and especially the two vice-presidents Mr. Milijan Brkić and Mr. Božo Petrov because they know very well what I'm talking about and what I'm fighting for. I also expect the support of President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović to whom this issue must be in focus because it's in the interest of citizens, and all the citizens of the Republic of Croatia, and without whom we cannot even begin to talk about the rule of law as the basis for the survival of every single legal state,'' concluded Vlaho Orepić, MP.

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ZAGREB, October 9, 2018 - After being interrogated at the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor over claims of leaking information from a police investigation into an elite prostitution ring in 2011, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) deputy president and Parliament Deputy Speaker Milijan Brkić, said that it was sad to see that media outlets find him responsible for attempts to undermine that police investigation which resulted in arrests and in a court conviction.

ZAGREB, October 7, 2018 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Sunday that there was absolutely political will to investigate everything in the case involving Milijan Brkić, stressing that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) had nothing to do with the case.

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."

ZAGREB, October 5, 2018 - 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 Dražen 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.

ZAGREB, October 4, 2018 - Osijek County Court on Thursday dismissed the appeal of the defence team for Blaž Curić, an agriculture ministry driver, who was arrested in Zagreb on 26 September on suspicion of alerting IT specialist Franjo Varga that he was going to be arrested for creating false text messages. The court's panel of judges dismissed the defence team's appeal as unfounded.

ZAGREB, October 4, 2018 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor (DORH) was an independent institution and that the Chief State Prosecutor and relevant agencies would present their version of the events surrounding the latest case involving deputy parliament speaker and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) deputy leader Milijan Brkić when they deemed it to be necessary.

ZAGREB, October 2, 2018 - Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday evening that he had talked with HDZ deputy president Milijan Brkić about the latest allegations directed against him and also underscored that the HDZ wants everything to be clarified regarding media reports that in 2011 Brkić had alerted suspects involved in an elite prostitution ring that they were under police surveillance.

HDZ deputy president Milijan Brkić allegedly leaked confidential information about an investigation into elite prostitution.