The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has opened a criminal investigation against two officials from Croatia’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs on suspicion of abuse of office in connection with allegedly fraudulent claims for accommodation expenses.
The pair were arrested on April 8 at EPPO’s request, following a co-ordinated operation with Croatia’s Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK).
The alleged misconduct took place between July 2020 and October 2024 during official overseas assignments linked to a project for installing security systems at Croatian diplomatic and consular missions.
The project was jointly funded by the European Commission’s Internal Security Fund, its Borders and Visas (ISF) element and the Croatian State budget.
According to the investigation, the two officials allegedly forged hotel invoices on 24 occasions, manipulating recipient names, duration of stays and cost details.
The travel claims were suspected to have related to Germany, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ireland and Serbia.
These allegedly falsified documents were then submitted with official travel orders to claim reimbursements.
The estimated amount of the allegedly fraudulent reimbursements was approximately €26,000, half of which was covered by ISF funds.
The USKOK office revealed that the defendants allegedly gained from the state budget of the Republic of Croatia a total amount of €3,582.62.
According to the USKOK office, five individuals were implicated in the alleged fraud scheme.
USKOK issued a decision imposing precautionary measures prohibiting the carrying out of business activities against four defendants who are employees of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.
The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs announced that it noticed irregularities and reported to USKOK at the end of January that the calculation of travel orders of several employees from the technical domain of the Ministry’s IT support was questionable.
“After thoroughly analysing all these actions, once we identified and examined them, we compiled comprehensive documentation, which we then submitted to USKOK,” Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić-Radman told Nova TV on April 8.
