Judicial Battles
Having collected evidence, as of autumn 2018 we have submitted criminal report to the Office for the Suppression of Organized Crime and Corruption and to the State Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Croatia in 1,000 plus pages of documents. Also, we have pressed charges against the responsible highly positioned officials of Croatian Forests Ltd.
1.
December 13, 2018
The first part of the official lawsuit No: KR-DO-1412/2916 sent to the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia.
Through several detailed documented chapters, we explained the causes of excessive logging with the basic goal of reselling timber, favoring private entrepreneurs in acquiring undue funds, and links to corrupt, high-ranking representatives of political centers of power.
- Excessive logging (inspection finding from 2014)
- Biomass cogeneration (possible effect on the need for excessive deforestation, consumption, Croatian Energy Market Operator – HROTE)
- Croatian Forests Ltd, Forest Management Plan: email as evidence of non – compliance with the approval procedure
- Business plans of Croatian Forests Ltd. for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018
- Doubt in the systematization of jobs in Croatian Forests Ltd
- Minutes from the Experts’ Meeting in 2017.
- Unnecessary costs related to the lawsuit of the former director of Croatian Forests Ltd Ivan Pavelić for the payment of a disproportionately large bonus
- Decisions on the establishment of right-of-use of forest land – wind farms Senj – Lučko
- Suspicion of illegal employment in the Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture without a public tender, the signatory of the decision is the Minister of Agriculture Tomislav Tolušić
- “Forest Biomass”, suspicious appointment of the director of a company in the process of bankruptcy
On 18th of December 2018, the State Attorney’s Office officially submitted the lawsuit to the Zagreb County State’s Attorney’s Office for further competent proceedings
“… as an indication of corruption, a petition of the Veterans’ Association VIDRA – Veterans and a social action alleging possible irregularities in the operations of Hrvatske šume d.o.o.. The responsible persons of the Croatian Chamber of Forestry and Wood Technology Engineers, the Faculty of Forestry in Zagreb, Hrvatske šume d.o.o., and the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Energy were also involved…“.
2.
January 3, 2019
We submitted to the State Attorney’s Office the first amendment to the lawsuit dated 13th of December 2018, with the following content:
- Appendix to item 1. Excessive felling, cogeneration on biomass
- Contract for the supply of wood chips without the obligation of use in production
- Appendix to item 2 of Croatian Forests Ltd, Economic Basis, Business Plan
- Management of Medvednica without valid Management Basis
- Review of a member of the Green Squad (M.Sc. in Forestry) on the management and use of forests under the management of the public company Croatian Forests Ltd, in terms of possible non-compliance with the positive legal provisions of the Republic of Croatia.
- Leasing of forest land without a valid Management Basis
- Decree from 2018, leasing of forest land – invitation / annulment of a part of the Invitation – Minister Tolušić
- Appendix item 2. Hrvatske šume d.o.o.
- Doubt in favoring (oversizing) of works intended for authorized contractors
- Oversized log extraction routes, studies Udbina 1 and 2
- Appendix to item 2. Hrvatske šume d.o.o, doubt in the systematization of jobs
- Mobbing
- A fictional mansion
3.
March 7, 2019
We filed a second amendment to the lawsuit dated 13th of December 2018, which contains irregularities that could indicate the implementation of organized criminal activities in Croatian Forests Ltd 2012 – 2018:
- Non-market pricing of firewood
- Questionable invoicing of energy-use wood
- Employment of temporary workers
- Questionable public tender for 7 directors of Sector Croatian Forests Ltd.
- Disputed invoices with the tractor manufacturer Hittner / Report on the State Audit Office of the Public Procurement Audit in the Company HŠ / Current Management of Croatian Forests Ltd did not sue the former Management
- Illegal protection and misconduct in key positions of the head of the commercial department of UŠP Gospić and successfully the next appointed head of the branch
- Devastation of the highest quality forest ecosystems under the management of Croatian Forests Ltd revealed in 2014 by the state forestry inspection
- Dumping price list of forest products for 2018
- Public Procurement Audit for 2017
- Illegal Business Plan of Croatian Forests Ltd for 2019
- The decision to terminate the contract with cogenerations / they are still in the system of incentives even though they do not work / Doubt in the continuation of benefits to the owners of cogeneration plants on biomass.
- Invitation for the sale of wood chips in 2019
- Possible irregularities in the work and management of the Forest Administration of the Gospić branch
- Lack of wood mass
- Minutes of internal control
- Suspicion of intentionally causing forest fires in Lika region
- Illegal protection and mansion-turnover in key positions of the head of the Commercial Department of UŠP Gospić
- Illegal business of the Pergment sawmill
4.
November 8, 2019
We filed the third amendment to the lawsuit from 13th of December 2018, which contains:
- Observed indicators that Croatian Forests Ltd planned and carried out excessive logging for years
- Questionable legal business of Croatian Forests Ltd. after 31st of December 2017
- Suspicion of misuse of the Personal Identification Number of citizens in the business of Croatian Forests Ltd for the purpose of gaining undue material benefit from licensed forestry contractors
- Non-compliance with the procedure for initiating administrative proceedings in the process of obtaining approval of the management basis from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development
- Questionable legality of operations of Croatian Forests Ltd according to the Business Plan for 2019
- Questionable legality of the medium-term Business Plan of Croatian Forests Ltd for the period from 2019-2021
- Suspicion of illegally obtained material profit in the Forest Administration Zagreb Branch after the Rea storm in May 2019
- Testimony of the director of Management Unit of Croatian Forests Ltd on observed irregularities and illegal operations of the Forestry Levanjska Varoš, Forest Administration of the Osijek Branch.
5.
January 29, 2020
We submitted a criminal report against the people responsible for the devastation of Mt. Medvednica where the damage and the deficit of 330,000 m³ of wood stock in the counter value of approx. 14 million euros was found.
We submitted the criminal charges for association, abuse and illegal and excessive deforestation on Mt. Medvednica to:
- State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia
- Marija Vučković, Minister of Agriculture
- Tomislav Ćorić, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development
- Andrija Mikulić, Chief State Inspector, State Inspectorate
- Zdravko Marić, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
The lawsuit was sent to the following adresses for inspection:
- Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia
- Lora Vidović, Office of the Ombudsman
- Dražen Jelenić, then Chief State Attorney
Of all the mentioned above, we received feedback only from the Office of the Prime Minister in the form of a forwarded document CLASS: 022-13 / 19-05 / 03, REGISTRATION NUMBER: 50302 / 22-20-3 of 31st of January 2020, in which the Prime Minister Andrej Plenković requests from the Minister of Agriculture investigation and statement – of the following content:
“Dear madam Minister, dear Marija,
The Office of the Prime Minister received a notification on a criminal complaint based on possible serious irregularities in Croatian forest management by Hrvatske šume d.o.o., possible serious deviations in the implementation of the Croatian Forest Management Plan, and possible alienation and concealment of large amounts of state resources and social property – Croatian forests. I am forwarding the notification in question in the Attachment.
Please check the allegations in the application and submit your statement to this Office with a r eference to the above mentioned registration number.”
Until the time of compiling of this report, we have not received a single document on the statement of Minister Marija Vučković.
We note that on January 3, 2019, we informed the Prime Minister Andrija Plenković about irregularities in the management of Hrvatske šume d.o.o. (Croatian Forests Ltd.), but only after receiving an ad hominem criminal report for the deforestation of Medvednica on January 29, 2020 his first reaction followed: he asked for a statement from the Minister Vučković.
Regarding the criminal report for the devastation of Mt. Medvednica submitted on January 29, 2020 to the State Attorney’s Office, on March 3 we received a letter from the State Attorney’s Office, Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime, Number: KR-US-2020, AT / AT, sent to the District Attorney’s Office:
”Pursuant to Art. 205, paragraph 4 of the Criminal Procedure Code, for further competent proceedings we submit in attachment a criminal report of the association ‘Vidra’-Association of Veterans and Social Action, filed by the president of the association Vesna Grgić, against Krunoslav Jakupčić, President of the Management Board of Hrvatske šume d.o.o. (Croatian Forests Ltd), Damir Miškulin Head of the Zagreb Branch Forest Administration, Ivica Dugački manager of the Zagreb Forest Office and Zvonko Gregurević, manager of the Donja Stubica Forest Office, since the content of the criminal report does not indicate the characteristics of criminal offenses within the competence of this Office, but may be criminal offenses within your actual and local jurisdiction.”
This completes our direct and indirect correspondence with the competent authorities, and we have no information about any of their further steps.
Until the time of compiling this report, our only knowledge is that forests on Mt. Medvednica, but also in other parts of the Republic of Croatia are being destroyed at a frightening, accelerated pace, regardless of whether the devastated areas are in the Natura 2000 protection regime or not.
6.
October 19, 2020
We are sending a comprehensive application to the EU Commission entitled Report on Deforestation in the Republic of Croatia, with the following title and chapters:
- Special Ornithological Reserve Crna Mlaka
- Special Zoological Reserve Varoški Lug
- Nature Park Lonjsko Polje, Donja Posavina
- Ornithological Reserve Rakita
- Ornithological Reserve Đol Dražiblato
- Ornithological Reserve Krapje Đol
- Mt. Zrinska Gora
- Žumberak Samoborsko gorje
- Mt. Bilogora and Kalničko gorje
Lawsuits submitted to Croatian state institutionsMisuse of EU FundsProposed SolutionsAppendicesIllegal Forest Management Without Approved Management PlansThe Plan for Exessive Harvest of Forests at the State LevelExamples of Forest Management Plans with excessive logging where planned harvesting is significantly higher than the forest incrementExamples of Excessive Logging in Management Units under the Natura 2000 protection regime
7.
April 26, 2021
We are filing a lawsuit against Krunoslav Jakupčić, President of the Management Board of Croatian Forests Ltd and Igor Fazekaš, member of the Management Board of Croatian Forests Ltd due to making untrue factual allegations in public and possible commission of a criminal offense against honor and reputation, defamation and insult.
8.
June 14, 2021
We are sending the Eu Commission a second comprehensive application entitled Report on Deforestation in the Republic of Croatia, Part Two, with the following chapters:
I New Examples of Serious Forest Devastations in Natura 2000 Areas
- The Completed Devastation of the Management Unit Varoški Lug
- Mt Psunj
- Forests on Mt Dilj Gora
- Area Around the Lake Borovik
- Žumberak Mountain
- Area Near Kuljaji Village on Žumberak Mountain
- Area Above Šobatovićeva Lipa on Žumberak Mountain
II Forest Management in the Republic of Croatia
- In General
- On the Structure of the Company Hrvatske šume d.o.o.
- Huge Established Deficiency of Growing Stock in the Tables of Accounting Control
- Established Growing Stock Deficiency Until 2019 by Branches of the Croatian Forests Ltd Administration
- Example of Analysis of Tables of Accounting Control, and Calculation of Growing Stock Deficiency
- The Business Plan Rebalance of Hrvatske šume d.o.o. For the Year 2020 to the Detriment of Biological Reforestation
- Croatian Forests Ltd Illegally Hire Unprofessional And Unlicensed Persons at Forestation Works
- Coratian Forests Ltd Deceive the Public by Manipulating Dana on the State of Forests in the Republic of Croatia
