The Croatian anti-corruption investigating agency (USKOK) has launched an investigation into the former director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, Vinko Mladineo, and into the owner of the "Odlagaliste Sirovina" company, Miho Zrnic Marinovic on suspicion of defrauding the Fund of HRK 5 million when they fixed business contracts in 2006.
USKOK charges the 69-year-old Mladineo and the 55-year-old Zrnic Marinovic with bribery, abuse of office and concealment of unlawful gain.
Zrnic Marinovic, a businessman from the coastal city of Zadar, will later in the day be questioned by Zagreb County Court judge Erna Drazancic who should decide on whether he will be detained in custody.
Zrnic Marinovic's company is engaged in managing hazardous and nonhazardous waste. Several environmentalist associations have been warning for some time that this company has been implicated in murky dealings.
Mladineo, suspected of signing contracts with the private Fimi Media marketing agency, through which money was siphoned from public companies and government ministries, has been in custody since he was arrested in Zagreb on 22 November 2010.
