Author: Francesca Marasi
Committee: Art & Cultural Heritage Crimes Committee
Date: 16/03/2025
November 2023, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation into the Faculty of Geodesy at the University of Zagreb (Croatia).
In particular, the EPPO, assisted by the Independent Financial Investigation Sector of the Croatian Ministry of Finance’s Tax Administration and the National Police Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (PNUSKOK), directed its investigative activities towards the Dean of the Faculty of Geodesy and a Professor from that faculty. These two individuals were suspected of misuse of authority and office, abuse of public procurement procedures, forgery of official documents and money laundering.
The background of the facts
The events date back to a significant earthquake in 2020 that caused serious damages to cultural heritage buildings in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.
From October 2019 to November 2023, the dean and professor oversaw the public procurement processes for four projects totaling €5.98 million, with 85% of the funding sourced from EU contributions.
EPPO stated that the projects included assessing natural disaster risks, researching climate change, promoting the sustainable development of marine ecosystems, and surveying cultural heritage buildings that suffered damage in an earthquake.
In particular, one of the projects was to conduct a 3D survey of the cultural heritage buildings that were affected during the 2020 earthquake.
EPPO, according to the investigations, discovered an agreement between the Dean of the Faculty of Geodesy and the previous deputy Minister at the Ministry of Culture and Media in order to assign the identification of earthquake-damaged buildings to the Faculty, in return for a monetary reward.
The irregularities were numerous:
– The Faculty was given the contract without a bid process, due to urgency or the natural disaster that had just happened. However, they ended up subcontracting the work to others because they were unable to complete it;
– The society was controlled by the Dean and the Professor, who benefited directly from the agreement;
– The Faculty generated bills at significantly high costs;
– There were falsifications in the indication of buildings to be renovated.
The damages to the European fund
The Ministry of Culture and Media has paid over EUR 2.5 million to the Faculty of Geodesy.
Within this amount, around EUR 800,000 was allocated to the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) and subsequently, due to a failure to carry out an appropriate public procurement procedure, this amount was instead charged to the budget of the State of the Republic of Croatia.
According to the investigation, the Dean and the Professor used some of the funds for their own benefit, obtaining an undue financial gain for themselves and others, amounting to at least EUR 384,000.
Due to the lack of work done, in some cases tasks were taken over by other companies, which led to additional costs. For this reason, an additional EUR 31,681.39 had to be paid, causing damage to the EU Solidarity Fund, which financed these additional works.
The important result of EPPO’s activities
This case represents another important milestone for the EPPO and its commitment to fighting crimes against the European Union budget. Since its operational launch in 2021, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has shown commendable effectiveness in Croatia, spearheading numerous investigations into corruption and public officials’ misconduct, notably culminating in final judgments in national courts.
As a result of EPPO’s probe and the European Public Prosecutor’s inquiry in Zagreb, the former deputy minister, the former dean, the former professor, and 27 additional individuals linked to the alleged fraudulent activities were detained in May 2024.
This greatly increased optimism in society that a supranational EU body might be achieving what national institutions have continually struggled with, specifically, holding public officials accountable.
https://euinside.eu/en/analyses/Croatia-EPPO-at-the-centre-of-the-fight-against-political-captureof-the-judiciary https://www.novilist.hr/novosti/uskok-zatrazio-podatke-od-ureda-europskog-tuzitelja-u-slucaju-g eodetskog-fakulteta-evo-sto-to-znaci/ https://sciencebusiness.net/news/universities/university-zagreb-faculty-dean-arrested-eu17m-fr aud-case-involving-eu-cohesion