Andrija Mikulić: From the League of Communists to USKOK, a Portrait of an Inspector
Former Chief State Inspector under investigation for bribery allegations, while PM Plenković announces waste remediation and weekly fuel price setting.
Former Chief State Inspector under investigation for bribery allegations, while PM Plenković announces waste remediation and weekly fuel price setting.
Andrija Mikulić, the former Chief State Inspector, is at the center of a scandal shaking Croatia. His political biography, spanning from membership in the League of Communists to closeness with the top of the HDZ, is now under scrutiny due to corruption allegations and the environmental disaster in Lika that occurred under his watch.
Born in 1969 in Zagreb, Mikulić, according to Teleskop.hr, showed political ambition early on. As a young man, he joined the League of Communists of Croatia and was active in youth structures. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, he continued his career in the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), where he spent years building a position within the Zagreb organization.
His rise was particularly pronounced during the era of Tomislav Karamarko and Milijan Brkić, and in 2012 he took the helm of the Zagreb HDZ. Although not remembered for electoral victories, he stood out as a master of political survival. He outlasted Karamarko, outlived Brkić's faction, and reached the era of Andrej Plenković. Thanks to cooperation with the late mayor Milan Bandić, he also became president of the Zagreb City Assembly.
In 2019, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković did not retire him but appointed him to one of the most powerful administrative positions in the state, the role of Chief State Inspector. At the head of the State Inspectorate, an institution with vast powers, Mikulić was supposed to be a key barrier against illegality.
However, the scandal involving illegally disposed waste in Lika showed that the system had deeply failed. While tens of thousands of tons of waste were imported and ended up at sites in Gospić and elsewhere, the State Inspectorate did not prevent the environmental catastrophe. The story became even more serious when it was revealed that it was Paško Dodić who introduced Josip Šincek, a key figure in the scandal, to Andrija Mikulić.
Mikulić himself confirmed to 24sata that he knows Šincek and that Dodić introduced them. According to the same source, their meetings were not isolated events. Witnesses saw them together in Gospić, and Teleskop.hr also reports information about meetings at Mikulić's home in Zagreb's Dubrava, at the Šinceks' in Varaždin, and at a gathering where Dodić was also present.
The most serious allegation came before USKOK. Josip Šincek claimed that Mikulić demanded 500,000 euros in bribes to leave him alone from inspections. Mikulić dismissed these claims, asserting that he always acted strictly according to the law. Nevertheless, this allegation raises the question of whether the Chief State Inspector was merely incompetent to stop the system or had become part of it himself.
While the investigation continues, Prime Minister Plenković has spoken out on both issues. "All those responsible for the waste disposal in Gospić and Lika must answer, and the competent authorities are dealing with it," he said on Twitter. He added that the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition and the Environmental Protection Fund have the task of remediating the waste through a lawful and transparent procedure, promising that the problem will be resolved like the baled waste in Varaždin.
At the same time, Plenković announced good news for citizens. "We have decided to change the methodology, and the Croatian Government will now react on a weekly basis instead of biweekly," he stated, announcing an urgent government session. According to him, prices will be lower for all five energy products: Eurosuper by 6 euro cents per liter, Eurodiesel by 4, blue diesel by 3, and gas in tanks and bottles by 8 euro cents.
