A former Croatian minister, who had already been convicted of corruption, received another sentence for using European Union funds improperly, spending thousands of euros on luxury dinners.
Gabrijela Zalac, dismissed from her post as Croatia’s EU funds minister in mid-2019, was tried and sentenced to seven months in prison for abuse of office and official authority, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) announced.
Since Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic took power in 2016, several ministers from the conservative HDZ party have been removed from office due to corruption allegations.
According to the EPPO, which has jurisdiction over investigating the misuse of EU funds, Zalac spent around 10 euros in restaurants on at least nine separate occasions. Croatian media reported that some of these expenses were for her 40th birthday celebration, financed with EU funds.
Zalac, first arrested in 2021, pleaded guilty and reimbursed the amount spent.
In June, she also pleaded guilty to abuse of office and undue influence related to the purchase of a new IT system for the ministry she headed.
For this act, she was sentenced to two years in prison and agreed to pay 200 thousand euros as part of compensation for the misuse of more than 1.3 million euros. /Telegraph/