High-profile corruption case allocated to Croatian instead of EU prosecutors

A high-profile corruption case involving a Croatian ex-government minister and seven other people will be dealt with by the Croatian anti-graft agency, Croatia's State Attorney Office (DORH) said on Tuesday, rather than EU prosecutors who had asked to examine the case.

Health Minister Vili Beros was immediately sacked after Croatia's Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) raided his home last Friday and arrested him over alleged corruption.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in Zagreb issued a statement the same day about its own investigation of Beros and seven other people over alleged bribery, abuse of authority and money laundering, and asked the DORH to transfer its case file to the EPPO.

Beros, who denied any wrongdoing, and two other suspects were ordered into one month detention.

The EPPO said that a criminal group seeking to secure financing for the sale of medical robotic devices in several hospitals was suspected of giving bribes to officials to try to win contracts for projects, including EU-funded ones.

But State Attorney Ivan Turudic decided that USKOK was authorized to proceed in the case based on its own investigation of Beros and other members of a criminal group, DORH said in a statement.

He said that EPPO did not inform USKOK or DORH about its investigation even though the criminal group's activities related to public tenders in Croatian state hospitals, hit the Croatian budget by 1.4 million euros, and did not affect EU funds.

The EPPO was not immediately available to comment on Turudic's decision.