Attempted bribery of Supreme Court judges
Criminal proceedings against Drago Tadić for associating for the purpose of committing criminal offence under Article 333(1) of the Criminal Law Act, and for instigating another to illegal intercession referred to in Article 343 of the same Act.
ABOUT THE TRIAL
At the beginning of October 2010, the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (hereinafter: USKOK) initiated an investigation against five persons because of an attempted influence on the Supreme Court’s judgment in the war crime trial against Branimir Glavaš et al. with the purpose to secure a more favourable verdict for Glavaš.
At the beginning of July 2011, USKOK laid an indictment against five persons: Osijek businessman Drago Tadić, Split businessman Srećko Jurišić, Tadić’s wife Božica Tadić-Ćavar, former deputy editor-in-chief of the Glas Slavonije daily and also a friend of Glavaš Sanja Marketić, and the HDSSB MP Ivan Drmić. These five persons were accused of committing criminal offences of associating for the purpose of committing criminal offences, instigating another to illegal intercession and false report of a criminal offence.
According to the indictment, Tadić organised and linked the other accused persons in Zagreb and Osijek in June and July 2010, knowing that the Supreme Court was deciding on an appeal against the Glavaš ruling, with the purpose to secure a more favourable verdict for Glavaš, in an attempt to find persons who could be bribed to influence the court’s judges or bribe the judges. Marketić and Drmić were supposed to collect EUR 700 000, Tadić-Ćavar was to coordinate their activities, while Tadić and Jurišić contacted a number of people for information about the case.
With the purpose of realising the plan as described and collection of money, Tadić requested and received EUR 50.00 from one businessman in Zagreb in the middle of July 2010. Following instructions from Tadić, Jurišić took over the money on the same day in order to give it to an as yet unidentified person. During July 2010, Jurišić contacted several times one person from the wider Zadar area and requested this person to get into a contact with a certain person and convey to him/her that Tadić and persons around him would give money if this person enters into a contact with one of the Supreme Court judges deciding on the Glavaš case and requests a rendering of a more favourable judgement for Glavaš. Furthermore, by following instructions from Tadić and on the basis of intercession by Tadić-Ćavar, a meeting was organised in a Zagreb cafe on 21 July 2010, at which Jurišić requested Marketić and Drmić to collect additional EUR 70.000 until 23 July 2010. They agreed to it and collected EUR 35.000 each.
As agreed, Jurišić took the money on 23 July 2010 to give it on 25 July to a person who could influence the adoption of a ruling more favourable for Glavaš. However, Jurišić did not deliver the money because Marketić and Drmić abandoned the scheme on 24 July and informed the other thereof the same day.
In order to avoid criminal liability, Marketić and Drmić reported, on the same day, an unknown person to the Osijek-Baranja Police Administration for trying to defraud them. They falsely stated in the criminal report that they gave the money to an unidentified person who kept it, although they knew that they surrendered EUR 70.000 to Jurišić with previously jointly agreed purpose.
It was proposed in the indictment that Jurišić should return to the state the EUR 70.000 which he received for the purpose of committing criminal offence from Drmić and Marketić in Zagreb on 23 July 2010.
Four defendants have made plea bargains with USKOK: Drmić, Marketić and Jurišić were given a two-year suspended prison sentence each in exchange for their guilty plea, and Tadić-Ćavar was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence.
Tadić is the only defendant who did not plead guilty.
The main hearing began at the Zagreb County Court on 21 May 2012.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Zagreb County Court
Prosecution: Tonči Perković, USKOK deputy head
Criminal offence: associating for the purpose of committing criminal offence under Article 333(1) of the Criminal Law Act, and instigating another to illegal intercession referred to in Article 343 of the same Act in conjunction with Article 37 of the same Act.
Accused:
1st accused Drago Tadić
2nd accused Srećko Jurišić- has made a plea bargain with USKOK and received a two-year suspended prison sentence in exchange for his guilty plea
3rd accused Božica Tadić-Ćavar – has made a plea bargain with USKOK and received a 15-months suspended prison sentence in exchange for her guilty plea
4th accused Sanja Marketić – has made a plea bargain with USKOK and received a two-year suspended prison sentence in exchange for her guilty plea
5th accused Ivan Drmić – has made a plea bargain with USKOK and received a two-year suspended prison sentence in exchange for his guilty plea
Defence: Jadranka Sloković, lawyer practicing in Zagreb representing the defendant Tadić
VERDICT
