The indictment panel of the Zagreb County Court today confirmed the indictment against three Osijek judges and the Mamić brothers, who, according to Uskok’s accusations, bribed them in exchange for favorable court decisions.
Uskoko’s indictment includes the brothers Zdravko and Zoran Mamić, three Osijek judges Darko Krušlin, Ante Kvesić and Zvonko Vekić and his friend Nataša Sekulić, as well as Osijek businessman Drago Tadić for receiving and giving bribes, influence peddling and money laundering.
Uskok states in the indictment that in November 2016, Krušlin, as a first-instance judge in Uskok, hung out with Zdravko Mamić in the ceremonial box of the Maksimir stadium. At the same time, Mamić, in order to win the favor of Krušlin as a judge of the Osijek County Court, put his expensive Audemars Piguet watch in his hand, which the judge took.
According to the indictment, Mamić, as a defendant in several criminal proceedings against him, his brother and other defendants, on several occasions, from 2017 to 2019 in Zagreb, Osijek, Banja Luka, Široki Brijeg and Dubai, personally contacted Vekić, also a judge from Uskok.
Indictment against judges
According to the indictment, Vekić promised Mamić that, using the relationship of trust and collegial and friendly relations with the judges of the Osijek County Court, including the defendant Kvesić, for the monetary reward that he would share with them, he would obtain favorable court decisions for Mamić and his co-defendants, regardless of the actual the state of the file.
Uskok specified how Vekić told Zdravko Mamić that he would ensure an acquittal in one case and decide on the dismissal of the indictment in the other, and that he would ensure a decision on the return of Mamić’s bond for release from remand prison in the amount of HRK 7 million.
Pursuant to the agreement, Zdravko Mamić handed over a total of at least 370,000 euros to Vekić on several occasions for him and the other two judges, Uskok points out in the indictment.
In addition, Zdravko Mamić, together with his brother, contacted Kvesić in Široki Brijeg, where they agreed that through Vekić, he would be financially rewarded for making a favorable court decision in a case.
The investigation was launched after Mamić’s delivery of the USB stick to Uskok
Zoran Mamić then, claims Uskok, insured 100,000 euros in order to obtain favorable court decisions for him. A bribe of 100,000 euros to look for Zdravko Mamić to judge Vekić, for him and Kvesić, was handed over by entrepreneur Tadić, knowing the purpose of handing over the money, since he had previously attended meetings and agreements between judges and Mamić on several occasions.
Uskok also states that as a reward for favoritism, the Mamić brothers covered the travel expenses of Vekić and those close to him, among whom was Nataša Sekulić, to Dubai at the end of 2017, as well as Vekić’s trip to the Croatian national football team in June 2018 in Great Britain. at the expense of HNS. Vekić is accused of, together with Nataša Sekulić, disposing of part of the money he received from Mamić for obtaining favorable court decisions.
According to Uskoko’s indictment, Vekić and Sekulić bought real estate in Osijek and a car with part of that money, while Vekić also bought real estate in Zadar and another car. The indictment also states that Sekulić kept money that Vekić obtained through corrupt practices in a bank safe.
The request of the Mamić family was rejected
In March 2023, the High Criminal Court rejected the request of the Mamić brothers and their co-defendants to move the second trial for the extraction of money from Dinamo as part of a criminal association from Osijek to the County Court in Zagreb. The same appeals court has yet to decide on the request of Zdravko Mamić’s defense to transfer the case related to the Osijek judges from the Zagreb court to the Osijek court for the sake of economy.
Disciplinary proceedings against two Osijek judges were initiated at the beginning of 2022 by the president of the Osijek County Court, Zvonko Vrban, after an affair in which Zdravko Mamić called them out for corruption. Krušlin was the president of the court panel that sentenced Zdravko Mamić to six and a half years in prison for extracting HRK 116 million from Dinamo, together with his brother Zoran and two other people.
When the verdict became final, Mamić delivered a USB stick from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Uskok containing accusations against judges Vekić, Krušlin and Ante Kvesić, and after that an investigation was launched that resulted in the arrests of judges for accepting bribes and trading in influence, Hina writes.
