Croatian Prime Minister dismisses health minister accused of corruption | Politics News

Prosecutors accuse the suspects of ‘taking and giving bribes, abusing office and authority, and money laundering’.

Croatia’s prime minister dismissed Health Minister Vili Beros after he was arrested on suspicion of corruption as part of a European Union investigation.

“This morning, former Minister Vili Beros and two others were arrested as part of an operation carried out by anti-corruption authorities,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at a press conference on Friday.

“As prime minister, I am personally appalled by the idea that anyone in the healthcare system would use their position for personal enrichment or to favor someone else within the healthcare system,” Plenkovic said. he said.

The European Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in the capital Zagreb said it launched an investigation against eight people, including Beros and the directors of two hospitals.

In a statement, the EU’s independent prosecutor’s office accused the suspects and the two companies of “receiving and giving bribes, abuse of office and authority, and money laundering.”

“Mr. Beros completely denies any criminal responsibility,” his lawyer Laura Vakovic told reporters.

Plenkovic, who was re-elected in April, said: “As a government, we have not and will not protect anyone suspected of committing a crime from criminal prosecution, no matter who they are or what office they hold.”

Between June 2022 and November 2024, five of the suspects attempted to “obtain excessive financial gain” through a scheme that involved the sale of medical robotic devices for multiple hospitals in Croatia, prosecutors said.

According to the EPPO, the suspects also offered bribes to manipulate the public procurement process.

Prosecutors said this had been tried at least four times but did not work in the case of an EU-funded project in the coastal city of Split, where bribes were rejected.

In three other cases at various hospitals in Zagreb, “there are allegations that the minister of health authorized the purchase of operating microscopes at unreasonably high prices and provided funds for public procurement in exchange for bribes.”

Prosecutors added that the price was “unfairly increased ($654,000) to the detriment of the Croatian national budget.”

The Croatian Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime Agency (USKOK) confirmed the arrests without identifying the suspects.

Beros was appointed to the post after his predecessor, Milan Kujundzic, was dismissed in January 2020 over his connection to a case involving undeclared assets.

Since coming to power in 2016, several ministers from the prime minister’s conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party have resigned amid allegations of corruption.

Croatia had serious problems with systemic and political corruption. It is often cited by international anti-corruption groups as one of the most corrupt states among the 27 EU member states.