EU keeps eye on Croatian bid

November 02, 2009 02:08:15 PM

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Croatia is stepping up its fight against high-level corruption under the watchful eyes of the European Union which has insisted on a clean-up for Belgrade to join the bloc.

Last week the national Bureau for the Fight Against Corruption and Organised Crime charged lawmaker Berislav Roncevic, a former defence minister, with embezzling at least 1.4 million euros (two million dollars) in a deal for the purchase of military trucks.

Roncevic is the highest official to face corruption charges and if found guilty could be sentenced to up to 10 years in jail.

Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic said recently that there were no more "untouchables" in the country's anti-corruption drive.

"No one can feel safe from being prosecuted for corruption," Simonovic said.

On Friday, Vice Prime Minister Damir Polancec resigned after media reports linked him to a major corruption scandal.

Polancec, who was also economy minister, said he did not want to "harm the government" arguing his decision was a reaction to a "lynch-style atmosphere".

His resignation follows the arrests earlier this month of six people, including four top officials of Croatia's leading food producer Podravka, under suspicion of embezzling some 35 million euros.

The state owns 26-percent stake in Podravka.

Local media said the anti-graft agency was investigating Polancec, a former Podravka manager, on suspicion of being the "political mentor" of those arrested.

"Polancec's resignation ... is a big step towards the head of Croatia's octopus of corruption," said opposition lawmaker Damir Kajin.

During the past few months Croatia saw several corruption probes in public companies.

In September, the government sacked the entire management of the country's largest state-owned power company HEP following an investigation into abuse of power.

The fight against corruption and judicial reforms are among the main
conditions Croatia has to meet as part of its bid to become the 28th member of the EU.

"Anti-corruption efforts continue and are producing initial results, but corruption remains prevalent in many areas and tools are now being deployed with sufficient vigour, especially on political corruption," Brussels said in an annual report on countries wanting to join the bloc.

Analysts say the arrival of Jadranka Kosor at the helm of the government after the resignation of her predecessor Ivo Sanader in July also contributed to the crackdown.

Zorislav Petrovic from Transparency International echoed the view.

"The direction in which the government is moving is better than it was before," he said, but warned that a lot had to be still done.

According to the parliamentary council monitoring the government's measures to fight corruption, the crime costs Croatia some 830 million euros (1.2 billion dollars) every year, or five percent of the 2009 budget.

Croatians see the judiciary, the health sector, the local administration and the political parties as the most corrupt while Brussels has warned that public procurement also remains a major source of corruption.