The director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Sufficiency Fund, Vinko Mladineo, has been placed in investigative prison for 30 days for fear that he might tamper with witnesses and repeat the crime of which he is suspected, Zagreb County Court investigating judge Kresimir Devcic decided on Tuesday.
Mladineo was arrested on Monday on suspicion of signing contracts with the Fimi Media marketing firm owned by Nevenka Jurak, through which he is believed to have siphoned over 5 million kuna (676,000 euros) from public companies and government ministries.
His arrest was made on the same day as Jurak and Mladen Barisic, former treasurer of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union party and Customs chief, presented their defence to investigators from the national anti-corruption office USKOK. After having admitted their guilt, they were released from Zagreb's Remetinec prison on Monday evening.
Before Mladineo's arrest, USKOK suspected 13 persons of siphoning off over 80 million kuna (10.8 million euros) from public companies and government ministries.
