Croatian police raided the home of Construction Minister Darko Horvat and subsequently arrested him on accusations of abuse of office dating from 2018 when he was serving as economy minister. 

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkov confirmed the arrest of Horvat and the launch of a criminal investigation, according to a government statement. However, top officials appear to have been taken by surprise by the arrest and the investigation, which also targets other current and former ministers. 

"Now I see that [Horvat] has been arrested, and that a criminal investigation is obviously underway,” said Plenkovic, answering questions from journalists. As far as I understand here, and I know as much as you do, I see that these are some events from 2018 while he was minister of economy in our first government, about programmes related to support to entrepreneurs, within the programme related to national minorities,”

Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic and former minister Tomislav Tolusic are also under investigation. Police are probing three other officials: Velimir Zunac, who works at the regional development ministry, Ana Mandac, who was Horvat’s assistant, and Katica Miskovic, head of the office for economically assisted areas, according to local media reports.

Horvat’s arrest was not officially announced by the police or the prosecution. The office of the chief prosecutor issued a statement saying that it would not comment the arrest until the necessary legal conditions for that are met.

Horvat is accused of abuse of office and power, according to local media reports. Mandac is reportedly suspected of wrongdoings in awarding grants to companies under a scheme for state aid at the time when Horvat was economy minister. Mandac is also suspected of misappropriations of grants for which former mayor of Knin, Josipa Rimac, was arrested in 2020. Rimac was accused of putting pressure on state official to issue a permit for construction of wind power farm at Knin.

The prime minister said that he had not spoken to Horvat, Milosevic or Tolusic. 

He also commented on the timing of the arrest, saying that it suspiciously coincided with hard times for the government that is facing challenges due to the coronavirus (COVID-19)-related economic crisis and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

"Someone had a motive for this to be right now, that ‘timing’ to be right now … So, if you have a week in which the government comes out with a package of HK4.8bn and extinguishes the looming existential crisis for citizens, the economy, retirees, farmers and fishermen, and if it solves the timeframe for spending on reconstruction, then this 'timing' after such a spectacular week it is not neutral,” the prime minister said.

He added that the prosecution could have invited Horvat for questioning instead of arresting him and called on chief prosecutor Zlata Hrvoj-Šipek to provide explanation for the reason for the urgent operation.

He added that the arrest of a minister deserves an explanation. Plenkovic did not say whether Horvat will be removed from the government but said that the ruling coalition will not be shaken by that arrest.

Horvat was appointed as economy minister in May 2018 following a scandal involving his predecessor, Martina Dalic who was forced to resign following the leaking of her email correspondence showing an alleged conflict of interest in the restructuring of food and retail giant Agrokor.