Did Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić and his wife Vesna go through a marital rough patch 24 years ago? According to court records, the couple filed for divorce in March 1996. Apparently, their short-lived divorce was amicable, because then ex-husband Milan immediately approved his ex-wife’s request to purchase an apartment for a price seven times below its market value!

UPDATE: All about Milan Bandic protest "Enough", which took place Saturday February 1, 2020 here.

Recently Vesna Bandić, wife of the multiple USKOK (Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime) indictee, bought a 68m2 apartment right in the center of Zagreb.

The recently purchased apartment is located on Trg Petra Petretića and was bought from family friends Željko and Dragica Šelendić for 854,000 HRK (114,775 EUR). It is important to emphasize that most of the money, 720,000 HRK (97,304 EUR), was immediately paid in cash. The apartment was purchased for Bandić's daughter Ana Marija, who was then registered as the apartment’s owner a few days before the New Year, according to Index on February 1, 2020.

Dario Juričan also posted the agreement dated April 7, 1997 for the sale of an apartment on Preradovićeva to Bandić's wife, on his Facebook profile. Bandić has claimed that the sale of this apartment was the source of funds for the recent purchase of the much larger more expensive property.

You can steal my name, but you can't steal my corruption! | Dario Juričan

Dario Juričan Uncovers Vesna Bandic Apartment Purchase Agreement

"FROM DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE TO ŠELA'S APARTMENT IN A FEW COMPLETE STEPS

Milan oh Bandić, you went to court and got divorced from your wife Vesna on March 25, 1996. You only completed this procedure so that your wife Vesna could buy an apartment on Preradovićeva ulica in Zagreb.

Immediately after your divorce was filed, Vesna Bandić submitted a request with the Zagreb Housing Commission for the recognition of right of occupancy for a 38m2 apartment on Preradovićeva 13.

Vesna Bandić claimed that she had been living in the house since birth, even though she was living with you, only a budding label cutter at the time, in a skyscraper on Bužanova 41.

Just a day after submitting her request, the commission accepted her right of occupancy claim and Vesna bought the apartment for 35,760 HRK (4806 EUR), which was then at least seven times less than the market value.

It took you, Milan, just seven days after your divorce to purchase the apartment in Preradovićeva ulica.

Now Milan, you are spinning a tale that your wife Vesna just bought a 68m2 flat from your friend Šela (Dragica Šelendić) for your daughter, from the proceeds of the sale of that apartment on Preradovićeva.

Thank you for reminding us, label cutter, what a complex operation you were prepared to do for 38m2.

Today, Master of the Fog, thanks to your entrepreneurial spirit, your daughter has an apartment almost double the size…

It paid off, Milan, good job!

Dario Juričan, Mayor of the Universe
/ Thank you Hrvoje Appelt! /

Juričan Poses More Questions For Milan Bandic (There Are So Many)

P.S.

I am particularly pleased, Milan, with your announcement yesterday:

"THERE IS NO DISPUTE REGARDING THE MAYOR'S PROPERTY REPORT!

The Mayor obeyed the law and legal procedures (...)

The Mayor properly made the necessary changes to his property report in a timely manner.”

And where did it all go, Milan, all those luxury watches Zenith, Cartier, Piaget, IWC ...?

Where did the old-timers from Grude (Bandić’s hometown in Bosnia) go?

Who swallowed the three apartments that you had at your disposal and used ...?

How did the 200,000 HRK (26,879 EUR) of cash found in the search of your office and apartment evaporate?

And those fine art paintings you tried to hide with Kikaš, which made you want to go on vacation for a long time because you asked Vida Demarin to make a false statement about those paintings?

Come on, come on, label cutter, send the media the appropriate press releases. Do it properly and in a timely manner, as you always obey the both the law and proper procedure. Please, you can do it," Juričan wrote on Facebook.

Milan and Vesna Bandić’s Fake Divorce

This story first appeared back in 2005.

In 1996, Bandić divorced his wife, Vesna Bandić, after which she, unburdened by his property, very conveniently bought an apartment in Preradovićeva ulica in the center of Zagreb. The law on compensation for property, which was confiscated during the Yugoslav communist rule, provided people with unresolved housing issues the right of purchase. At that time the Bandić’s owned an apartment on Bužanova ulica.

As such a buyout was only possible until March 1997, it is interesting to note that Bandić divorced his wife in March 1996. Then, a week later, his ex-wife submitted a request to buy an 38m2 apartment for 35,760 HRK (4806 EUR) on Preradovićeva ulica.

Until her death in 1992, her grandmother, Anka Kolarić, lived in the apartment. Vesna Bandić said in her request to buy the apartment that she had been registered at that address since 1975 and she had been living in that apartment for seventeen years. Their daughter, Ana Marija, has also been reported as living at that same address since 1983.

Vesna Bandić Apartment Purchase Agreement | Dario Juričan

Milan Bandić Approved Ex Wife's Zagreb Apartment Purchase

Vesna Bandić was granted the right to buy the apartment just one day after her request was submitted. Despite their divorce, Bandić, as a government official, personally approved the decision on the recognition of the right of occupancy for his ex-wife. The purchase contract shows that the apartment was purchased for 37,760 HRK (4806 EUR), that the amount of the first installment was 3576 HRK (481 EUR), and the rest was to be paid in 240 installments of 148 HRK (20 EUR) per month.

An extensive archive of Total Croatia News articles on the notorious Zagreb Mayor can be found here. An archive of articles on Dario Juričan can be found here. More information on Juričan can be found on his website. 

Another protest against Mayor Bandić, organized by Zagreb Te Zove, will take place on Trg bana Jelačića today February 1, 2020 at 16:00 CET. More information on the protest can be found on the group's Facebook page. 

UPDATE: All about Milan Bandic protest "Enough", which took place Saturday February 1, 2020 here.

ZAGREB, January 4, 2019 - The anti-corruption agency USKOK appealed on Friday against the Zagreb County Court ruling under which former prime minister Ivo Sanader was guilty of war profiteering because in war time he received kickbacks from Austria's Hypo bank which gave Croatia a loan to purchase embassy buildings.

At the time, in his capacity as deputy foreign minister in charge of negotiations to secure a loan from Austria's bank, Sanader had taken advantage of the state of war to make financial gain for himself.

"The defendant was found guilty and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for war profiteering. USKOK believes the sentence is too lenient and the Zagreb County Court did not acknowledge aggravating circumstances to the extent it should have, while at the same time acknowledging mitigating circumstances," USKOK said in a press release.

In the Hypo case, Sanader was accused of taking 3.6 million kuna in kickbacks when he was deputy foreign minister, after Austria's Hypo bank gave Croatia a loan to buy diplomatic office buildings. At the time, Croatia was in the midst of war, so Sanader was also accused of war profiteering.

At the end of the trial, Sanader said he was not a war profiteer. The prosecution said the opposite, claiming in closing arguments that war profiteering had been proved and that he had been downplaying his role the whole time.

Sanader was already sentenced in this case, when he was also sentenced for taking a bribe from MOL director Zsolt Hernadi in exchange of management rights in INA. However, the Constitutional Court quashed the ruling in the Hypo case and requested a retrial.

The quashed sentence was the first sentence for war profiteering delivered after the Constitutional Court ruled that there was no statute of limitations on that crime. Quashing it, the Court said the Zagreb County Court and the Supreme Court did not establish if the statute of limitations had run out when Sanader was accused and that they failed to enforce a more lenient law.

More news on former prime minister Sanader can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, December 14, 2018 - The national anti-corruption prosecutorial agency USKOK has amended an indictment against Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić on suspicion that he and his associates favoured a company owned by businessman Petar Pripuz when awarding a waste disposal job, whereby Bandić allegedly defrauded the city budget of over 3 million kuna.

The amendments which USKOK submitted to Zagreb County Court on Friday also refer to suspicion that by evading to pay taxes on donations for his presidential campaign, Mayor Bandić defrauded the state budget of 542,000 kuna.

Apart from Bandić, the amended indictment implicates businessman Pripuz, former senior executive in the Zagrebački Holding company Slobodan Ljubičić, Bandić's advisor Željko Horvat, and four more suspects of being involved in a number of corruption-related crimes causing financial harm to the city budget.

USKOK requested merging this case with a trial on a scandal dubbed "Agram" which started before Zagreb County Court in mid-October.

More news on Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, November 22, 2018 - In her first appearance before the press since her appointment, the new director of the Office for the Suppression of Organized Crime and Corruption (USKOK), Vanja Marušić, pointed out the need for legislative amendments so that USKOK can work more efficiently on the most complex cases, adding that one of her first steps would be to meet with crime police heads to discuss the directions of their joint work.

Marušić said that she could not specify which legislative amendments might be made because this was something that isn't dealt with by the Chief State Prosecutor's Office alone, but also by the courts, the Justice Ministry and other institutions and experts.

Those amendments need to make sure that USKOK can work on the most complex corruption cases in the public and private sectors and on the most complex forms of organised crime. However, this does not mean backing down from the fundamental principle of zero tolerance to corruption, Marušić said.

She said that she expected support from the chief state prosecutor with regard to logistics, including the provision of adequate premises and hiring of IT and financial forensic experts.

In addition to good cooperation with the police, Marušić pointed out the importance of citizens' trust and support. "USKOK has always been and will be open to anyone who has information on corruption and are prepared to cooperate in proving criminal acts. Naturally, that doesn't mean that citizens should do USKOK's job, but the reality is that USKOK can't be present in all institutions and social spheres and have direct knowledge of all illegal activities," Marušić said.

She added that USKOK required good and checkable information that can be transformed into quality evidence and result in convictions.

Asked whether she was satisfied with USKOK's work so far and its image in the public, Marušić said that the public perception of the work of the judiciary generally isn't positive and that it is gauged by successes in "big cases." However, the greatest problem is the long duration of cases before the courts which USKOK isn't satisfied with either, and in that regard it is necessary to amend legislation to ensure efficiency and to expedite procedures, she concluded.

For more on the corruption issue in Croatia, click here.

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