Former Gospić Mayor Karlo Starčević, in an interview with N1, shifted responsibility for illegal waste disposal onto the county and state institutions, claiming he personally had no knowledge of thousands of tons of waste arriving.
Former Gospić Mayor Karlo Starčević sharply commented on Monday on the case of illegal waste disposal in the city area, leveling a series of serious accusations against state institutions and officials. In a conversation with N1 journalist Katarina Plantak, Starčević claimed that all the crime occurred "under the patronage of the state mafia that came from Zagreb."
At the very beginning, Starčević thanked the citizens who, as he said, finally spoke out about the waste problem. He then emphasized that the City of Gospić is not responsible for issuing waste disposal permits. "I must draw attention to a total ignorance, both among citizens and even more so among the media. Neither my predecessor Petar Krmpotić, nor I as mayor who served for just over seven years, nor my successor Mr. Darko Milinović are tasked with, nor can we issue a permit for waste disposal, especially hazardous waste," he stated. He shifted responsibility for issuing the permit to the Lika-Senj County, claiming that it was issued by the then county official Jerko Kostelac.
Starčević detailed how he met entrepreneur Josip Šincek in 2021, who introduced himself with a plan to produce protective barriers at the site of the former PPK Velebit. "We gave him our support at that time. After six months, he invited us to see what he had done. He was renovating the buildings of the former PPK Velebit, the roof, windows, and so on. I was there with my deputy and the head of the department," he recalled.
He claims that during that visit, he saw nothing suspicious. "There was nothing else in terms of waste at that time, in 2021, not a trace in Gospić. So, that happened later," he said, adding that, according to his information, waste began arriving during 2023. Responding to citizens' claims that trucks started arriving as early as 2019, he replied that Šincek was not yet the owner of the property at that time: "He wasn't the owner in 2019. He only bought that property around early 2021, as far as I know."
The former mayor also addressed the scale of the pollution, expressing disbelief that such a large amount of material could have gone unnoticed. "37,000 to 40,000 tons of waste. Do you know how much that is? That's a column of trucks and semi-trailers stretching 75 to 80 kilometers. And that absolutely no one saw it when it was coming into Gospić," he emphasized.
When directly asked if he personally saw the trucks, he answered firmly: "Never. I didn't see those semi-trailers. I could swear before God, before man, and before the DORH (State Attorney's Office). If I had seen them, I would have reacted and certainly prevented it." He also dismissed citizens' claims that they had reported suspicious activities to him. "All those who say they reported to me, I must say they are blatantly lying," he said, although he does not rule out the possibility that someone contacted the City or his then deputy, and the information did not reach him.
Starčević also linked the case to the former director of Gospić's Komunalac, whom he believes must have had knowledge of the situation at the Rakitovac landfill. "I suspected the director of Komunalac, which is why I dismissed him in 2023 because he wasn't submitting regular reports on the municipal waste landfill in Rakitovac. That's why he was dismissed," he explained.
At the same time, he expressed surprise that the competent institutions never contacted him. "No one from the police, the DORH, or the criminal police has even contacted me to this day, which I find extremely surprising," he said. He characterized the entire situation as a symptom of a dysfunctional state: "If public services don't keep up, then we have to ask ourselves what kind of desolate state we're in where institutions don't function at all."
Starčević directed his harshest accusations toward the then chief state inspector. "We see that the first man who should protect the legal order of the Republic of Croatia was an accomplice in this crime, Mr. Andrija Mikulić," he stated. Regarding the Lika-Senj County, Starčević claims that among the people there are "honorable and honest individuals" who, as he says, acted on someone's orders from the state leadership. Interestingly, he added that he believes Prime Minister Andrej Plenković was not aware of the events: "I am even convinced that a large part of this happened behind Mr. Plenković's back, that he had no idea or knowledge of it."
Finally, Starčević said that prosecuting those responsible is more important than the waste remediation itself. "Whether it will be remediated or not, that's a secondary matter at this point. If we don't lock up those people, those culprits who did this, if we don't seize their property to the ninth generation and send them to forced labor, this will repeat in the next three to five years," he warned. He added that without a decisive response from institutions, a similar case could occur in another part of Croatia within two to three years, concluding that the state must start addressing the hazardous waste problem systematically, not just when the consequences become visible.
