The scandalous conduct of Željko Žganjer, head of the USKOK Office for Combating Organized Crime in the affair tied to Mate Granić and Darinko Bago will have serious negative repercussions for Croatia’s accession process to the EU. Brussels is already exceptionally displeased with the situation in the Croatian justice system, which it has assessed as incompetent, poorly staffed and prone to corruption. The way in which USKOK set up this affair of alleged bribing has only increased the doubts already present in the EU capital. This opinion is shared by several attorneys and diplomats who spoke with Nacional over the past days, confirming the opinion that Žganjer’s behavior has put Croatia into a poor international position. Therefore, not even the likely decision by General Attorney Mladen Bajić to remove Žganjer will significantly help Croatia’s position, as USKOK and its director have only further compromised Croatia. It was proven that the director of USKOK set up the entire operation in order to give the impression – just as Radovan Ortynski did frequently in the past – of an uncompromised fighter against crime and corruption, thus preventing being removed from his post. Such a plan was doomed to fail and quickly the entire operation ended in a fiasco. Figuratively speaking, its consequences were felt even in Brussels, as the Granić-Bago affair once again showed how poorly staffed the leading judicial positions are in Croatia, and that the allegedly elite team of people, such as those in USKOK, have many flaws, from leaking information to, at the very least, a strange selection of people to lead them. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Justice Ministry last week issued a ban for Željko Žganjer to have any contact with the press in order to keep the damage done at the current level. However, certain experts in judicial circles already warned at the time of his appointment that this was a catastrophic move. Furthermore, certain distinguished foreign attorneys received a very clear picture of just who Žganjer is back in 2001.

That year the Croatian Legal Centre and the Croatian Helsinki Committee organized the legal conference “Command Responsibility” at Trakošćan, to discuss the penalization of war criminals and how to treat such cases. Proof that the symposium was held at the highest possible level was evident with the presence of Ruth Wedgwood, Bill Clinton’s chief legal advisor during the NATO intervention in Kosovo. In the usual atmosphere for such a gathering, the conclusion was that a great deal of the responsibility lies in the judiciary, which in the former Yugoslavia is not strong enough to prosecuted the perpetrators of such crimes. That caused then Šibenik prosecutor Žganjer to publicly admit that not all the cases before the court had been processed but “if you remove me, someone much worse will take my place.” This admission left the sixty attorneys, university professors, foreign experts and diplomats speechless, until Dubrovnik attorney Srđ Jakšić shortly responded, “Mr. Žganjer, you’ve just confessed to being amoral, and now leave us to do our job.” As the county prosecutor, Žganjer failed to process a number of cases, such as the investigation into the bombing of Šibenik, he never found evidence against the murder of three imprisoned members of the so-called Krajina Army who were liquidated after Operation Storm in Šiverić near Drniš, and due to a job poorly done, the murders of the married couple Damjanić from Prokljana were set free. Also set free were the soldiers who killed sixteen elderly Serbs in the villages of Varivoda and Gosići, also because the indictment was poorly written and supported.

Despite numerous professional mistakes, such as the excesses in Trakošćan which was long afterwards laughed about in judicial circles, its subject was soon appointed as the director of USKOK. Over the past few days, Željko Žganjer has knowingly deceived the public, claiming that he has been in contact with experts from Europe’s administration. “That is senseless, as though the politicians in Brussels care about Žganjer,” stated one Croatian diplomat. All that truly binds the EU and USKOK is the certain knowledge of the lack of ability in the Office for Combating Organized Crime, which the EU is very aware of. Therefore, the CARDS program of financial aid to the countries of southeast Europe, has earmarked one million Euro for USKOK, which is to help the agency secure some level of professionalism. However, Žganjer or his predecessor will not be independent in spending this money, as they will be overseen by crime experts from Spain who will greatly influence how the money can be spent. All that has happened over the past days fully corresponds to the varying criticisms of the Croatian justice system listed in the Avis from the European Commission last month.

The Avis listed the five priorities of the EU for Croatia: stabilizing democracy, economic and social development, the judiciary and home affairs, strengthening administrative competence and environmental protection. “At the national level, USKOK is the main body responsible for battling these forms of crime, which includes terrorism. However, the administrative and operative capacities of the Office are still limited, and there is still not enough staff. Cooperation with other agencies must be intensified. Finally, it is necessary to develop a better strategic approach in the battle against organized crime,” states the Avis. USKOK is mentioned in the section on corruption, but with quite a dose of skepticism. “USKOK is not fully operative and its administrative and operative capacities need significant improvement,” concluded the European experts. True, the entire section dedicated to the Croatian justice system was exceptionally critical, though it states that the situation has improved over the past few years. However, the Avis strongly warns against dramatic staffing changes, the likes of which the justice system has still not recovered from. The computerization of the courts is going slowly, and the buildings the courts are housed in are old and worn down. Judges are poorly selected, they are frequently incompetent and ineffective, which has resulted in 1,380,000 unsolved cases. The EU warns that the consequence of this type of situation is corruption, which infiltrates through various aspects of society, with the addition that significant efforts are required in raising public awareness of corruption as a serious criminal act. Under such circumstances, the Bago-Granić affair has further contributed to the stigmatization of the Croatian justice system. The arrests of public persons such as Granić without sufficient evidence is the most drastic example of a job poorly done, and even more that the Croatian justice system can destroy someone’s public career, certain attorneys claim. Thanks to USKOK, a paradoxical situation has arisen, in which tycoons such as Miroslav Kutle and Josip Gucić are on trial as free men, or those accused of murder, such as Vinko Žuljević-Klica, while persons against whom there is not a single piece of concrete evidence are put into detention. No one will be held responsible if Granić’s time in detention has harmed his business career, and with that his future living.

Unlike the EU, in Croatia, it is virtually impossible to sue the state in such situation. One of the pragmatic examples of this senseless legal practice is the case of Mate Majić, who was taken into custody in early 2000 together with Ivan Herak on charges that he stood behind the suspicious elaborate on the construction of a golf course in Istria. Though there was no concrete evidence against him, and the private court expert confirmed that Croatia even earned money off his work, Majić was in jail for over 400 days. He was released in spring 2001, and to date not a single court case has been raised against him. What is worst of all is that such cases are not a coincidence but – true not always – the result of the intentional conduct by the judicial administration. From the standpoint of the state, this is normal, considering that until the case is closed, Majić cannot sue Croatia for threatening his civil rights and seek compensation, which is why the justice system will not begin proceedings against him. On the other hand, not even an ideal situation will help him much, considering that he could receive 30 Euro for every day spent behind bars, which means that his year plus of psychological torture is worth only 12 thousand Euro. The EU is well aware of such cases, which appear horrific to Brussels. The Croatian legal system is completely incompatible with that of the EU, and no one can trust it, regardless of whether these are the family members of someone murdered by a drunken criminal, people who were forced out of their own homes or foreign entrepreneurs who wish to legally invest in the economy. “With this justice system, we can be sure that we will not enter into the EU,” confirmed a distinguished Zagreb attorney for Nacional.

When we add the dramatic inefficiency of the police and justice system, which have not prosecuted a single perpetrator of a dozen mafia murders, like the numerous murder cases of civilians committed between 1991 and 1995, then there are clear reasons why the EU sent a clear message to the Croatian government that they must finally beginning cleaning out the justice system. With his most recent acts, Žganjer has again displayed the acute troubles in the justice system, and his replacement or resignation could present the first step in fulfilling the European demands. Considering that receiving a date for the beginning of negotiations with the EU is currently the only goal of Premier Ivo Sanader, it is difficult to believe that eliminating the incompetent head of USKOK would not represent one of he first moves in satisfying the demands by the European Commission. However, it is too bad that Žganjer is leaving for the reason that Brussels has had it with him, and not due to his own incompetence which was most strongly felt by the Croatian citizens.