The former head of the Customs Administration and treasurer of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Mladen Barisic, is suspected of siphoning off as much as 40 million kuna (5.5 million euros) from state-owned companies and government ministries for the benefit of the Fimi Media marketing firm owned by his longtime friend, Nevenka Jurak, and faces up to 15 years in prison if put on trial and convicted.
The national anti-corruption office USKOK suspects that Fimi Media earned about 40 million kuna through fictitious and rigged tenders, Zagreb County Court investigating judge Kresimir Devcic confirmed on Friday. He would not reveal the exact amount of money stated by the prosecutors in the detailed investigation order.
After the Fimi Media scandal began to unfold with the arrests of Jurak and her associate, Anita Loncar Tepes, in mid-August, USKOK said that they had illegally earned about 16.5 (2.2 million euros) million kuna.
