Former public prosecutor Anto Nobilo is convinced that Chief State Attorney Ivan Turudić does not look at party affiliation and would prosecute even the Prime Minister if there were reasonable suspicion.
Chief State Attorney Ivan Turudić would not hesitate to arrest even Prime Minister Andrej Plenković if there were any elements of a criminal offense. This assessment of Turudić's work at the helm of the DORH is given by Anto Nobilo, a former public prosecutor and one of Croatia's most influential lawyers. Regardless of party affiliation, the same would apply to any minister, mayor, or other high-ranking official.
Nobilo believes that Turudić would even enjoy arresting Plenković, not for personal reasons, but because arresting such a high-ranking official is an opportunity for any prosecutor to go down in history. Turudić took over as head of the DORH in February 2024. Ahead of the parliamentary elections, the opposition, especially the left, organized protests and tried to label him as "HDZ's boy."
As one of the first more notable moves, Nobilo highlights the arrest of Health Minister Vili Beroš. Plenković's face while speaking about the arrest of his minister, says Nobilo, revealed a genuinely surprised man. With this move, Turudić clearly signaled that Plenković may have proposed him, but it was the Parliament that confirmed him, and it is to the Parliament alone that he answers. He is solely interested in the pursuit of justice.
During Turudić's mandate, the "Hipodrom" affair also came to light. Former director of Zagreb's city Institution for Sports Facilities Management, Kosta Kostanjević, along with three other defendants, pleaded guilty and reached a plea deal regarding the siphoning of city money through fictitious security company invoices. USKOK has also recently reactivated an old case related to the contract between the City of Rijeka and Erste Bank, with former SDP mayor of Rijeka, Vojko Obersnel, coming under investigation.
His mandate is marked by high efficiency and a reversal of the long-standing trend of increasing backlog of unresolved cases by more than one hundred percent. The DORH now resolves more cases than it receives. Indictments have been raised against 447 individuals, and investigations have been discontinued in only eight cases. The number of employees has increased from 1,902 to 2,028.
Of particular importance to the public is that the indictment in the ten-year-old Agrokor case, against Ivica Todorić and others, has finally been confirmed. This suggests that the DORH has become faster and more efficient. Mladen Dragičević, a lawyer and Turudić's former rival candidate, jokingly says that Turudić was definitely the best candidate after him. He adds that there is no doubt that the head of the DORH has shown no reservations in the two and a half years and is doing an excellent job.
Dragičević, however, also raises objections, particularly regarding the arrest of former Split mayor Željko Kerum. His Croatian Civic Party in Split is in a coalition government with the HDZ. Kerum was handcuffed in front of his family, at an event on Korčula, even though it is known where he lives in Split, he is not on the run, and he is easy to find.
Dragičević notes that the DORH and USKOK do not decide on handcuffs, but the police do. They do not, for example, put them on Mario Banožić, who is on trial for an accident in which a man died, but they do put them on someone for illegal construction. Zagreb lawyer and criminal law expert Višnja Drenški Lasan assesses Turudić as very active. She does not notice that anyone is particularly favored, neither from the left nor the right.
As an open question, she cites the relationship between the DORH and the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), which the Constitutional Court has left to the Court of Justice of the EU. It was precisely cooperation with EPPO that was most contentious in the "Beroš case," with both institutions conducting parallel investigations, and Turudić assessed that he was competent. Nobilo believes that this turned out to be quite awkward, but that the law is such and Turudić only respected it.
The DORH had all the evidence, says Nobilo. It is more about Turudić wanting the case for himself to show that he can lead an investigation even against a minister, rather than wanting to protect him, as was attempted to be portrayed. Turudić has also announced greater transparency in work, but Drenški Lasan warns that this is not easy to achieve given the secrecy of investigations. All trials should be public, and everyone should publicly account for their actions, but that is not a matter for the Chief State Attorney, but for the law passed by the Parliament.
