The Osijek County Court on Monday prolonged detention by another two months for a former commander of the Croatian Land Forces, Mladen Kruljac, and another five suspects believed to be implicated in unlawful sale and purchase of construction land in the eastern municipality of Sibinj, thus embezzling millions.
The detention was extended at the request of the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK), which claimed that the suspects could tamper with witnesses.
Lawyer for Kruljac Marko Dumancic told press that so far 19 witnesses had been heard and seven more were yet to be questioned. Once all witnesses are heard, the dentition could be suspended, Dumancic said, expressing hope this could happen in the near future.
Kruljac and five other men, who have been in the Osijek detention unit for a month already, are suspected of embezzling HRK 17 million from the state budget and the budget of the municipality of Sibinj. Apart from Kruljac, also suspected are Sibinj municipal head Ivica Batinic, former councilman Ivan Miskovic, entrepreneur Ivan Rimac, haulier Zeljko Garic and Zdravko Sockovic, the leader of Slavonski Brod county branch of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
