Parliament on Thursday approved a request by the USKOK anti-corruption investigating agency to strip independent MP and Mayor of Varazdin Ivan Cehok of immunity so he could be prosecuted on suspicion of abuse of office.
The parliamentary Credentials and Privileges Commission recommended on Thursday morning that Parliament grant USKOK's request to lift Cehok's immunity so he could be detained and prosecuted on suspicion of abuse of office.
Parliament received USKOK's request on Wednesday.
The approval was supported by 87 members of parliament. Two deputies of the HDSSB regional party voted against it and Dubravka Suica of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) abstained from the vote.
Before the vote, Djurdja Adlesic, head od the parliamentary group of independent MPs, said that she was surprised by USKOK suspicions that Cehok committed white-collar crimes.
Cehok and Adlesic used to be high-ranking officials of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) before leaving it when it got a new leadership.
Zlatko Koracevic of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), a resident of Varazdin, said that the HNS had warned four years ago about the irregularities which were now the subject matter of the Cehok investigation.
