Ana Čelar, Ema Grgić, Mašenjka Bačić

_

In the third phase of the Asset Detector project, Oštro investigated the asset declarations of sitting Croatian MPs. They discovered that as many as 17 had not updated or submitted their asset declarations by the time of the inquiry, while others failed to report their real estate and business shares.

A house built on a meadow, undeclared inherited property, businesses receiving funds from public authorities, out of date asset declarations, or their complete absence are just some of the irregularities uncovered by Oštro when it investigated the asset declarations of Croatian Parliament members.

In the third phase of the Asset Detector project, Oštro investigated 151 MPs. For four first-time officeholders, their asset declarations were not published by the time this article was completed, and another nine either hadn’t updated theirs or the declarations were undergoing an administrative review.

Among those who had submitted asset declarations or whose declarations were outdated, Oštro found 49 undeclared properties and 7 undeclared companies. Out of a total of 800 reported properties, Oštro was able to locate and verify 657. The remaining properties could not be identified in land registries or cadastral records.

MP: A Building Without Permits Not Considered a Building

Dubravka Lipovac Pehar, an MP from the Homeland Movement party (DP), serving her first term in Parliament, declared an apartment in Slavonski Brod and farmland owned by her husband in nearby Podvinje.

Our investigation found a small house on the declared plot that Lipovac Pehar did not report. According to a size estimation by the Map Developers portal, the house measures approximately 47 square meters.

The City of Slavonski Brod informed Oštro that no building permits have been issued for the building on that plot.

The path leading to the property, marked as a public area, is fenced off, preventing access.

In response to Oštro’s inquiry, Lipovac Pehar stated that, according to her knowledge, the building was constructed before 1968.

»Since this building dates from that period, its legality is not in question, despite the fact that it never had electricity, water, or sewage connections, nor was it used for residential purposes,« Lipovac Pehar said, explaining that due to its poor condition, it does not meet the legal requirements for use. She also added that the farmland is maintained in accordance with local regulations, and that her husband did not install the fence, as they access the plot from a different location.

When asked why she did not include the building in her asset declaration, she said she does not consider it a building.

»As I mentioned, the structure is in very poor condition, with cracks caused by soil movement and landslides, lacking a sanitary unit, water, and electricity, and it measures less than 30 square meters. It is solely used for storage,« Lipovac Pehar said.

A Meadow Instead of a Printing House

Ana Puž Kukuljan, an MP from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) serving her first term in the Croatian Parliament, owns 40 properties in the wider area of Opatija, most of which she inherited. According to asset declaration information, her husband owns two meadows totalling 1,372 square meters, which he purchased in 2011.

However, Oštro’s investigation revealed a building of about 200 square meters on said meadows. A company called Impress is registered at this location, directed by Nenad Kukuljan, Puž Kukuljan’s husband.

The new MP worked there from April 2021 to November 2022. On Google Maps, the location is marked as a printing house.

In a response to Oštro, Puž Kukuljan said that the structure is unfinished and has a building permit; once completed, it will be registered in the land registry.

Satellite images indicate that construction began no earlier than 2018. Puž Kukuljan did not declare the property as construction land.

Vice President of Parliament, Željko Reiner, from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) also reported inaccurate information. His asset declaration states that he owns a house with a yard in Zagreb measuring 131 square meters.

The property in Črnomerec consists of a house that, but according to land and cadastral records, the property in the Črnomerec neighbourhood has an area of 178 square meters, a pool measuring 42 square meters, ancillary buildings totalling 37 square meters, and a yard of 509 square meters.

In his response to Oštro, Reiner stated that the declared size of 131 square meters refers to the size of the house, not the entire property.

Distracted Parliament Members

Sixteen MPs failed to report a total of 49 properties, most of which they inherited. Some, like the HDZ mayor of Dubrovnik, Mate Franković, were unaware of their inherited properties, as he told Oštro.

HDZ MP and mayor of Petrinja, Magdalena Komes, did not declare 16 inherited properties she co-owns with other people in Selce, near Crikvenica, where she shares ownership of 6,200 square meters of pastures and forests, as well as in Soline on Krk, where she co-owns 5,200 square meters of farmland. In her response to Oštro, she described this as a formal oversight.

»The properties in question are not locationally known to me, nor do I know their addresses. Given my small share, I cannot use them, and the majority owners are not obligated to buy me out,« Komes stated, noting her shares are no larger than 3.1 percent.

»It is therefore impossible to determine their value, which is why I hired a lawyer this year to obtain the necessary information for reporting. The fact of the matter is that household appliances, particularly kitchen appliances, have greater value than my shares in these properties,« she added, promising to update her asset declaration with the information she has gathered so far.

Her party colleague Ivan Dabo, who is also the mayor of Novalja, failed to report his co-ownership of 78,300 square meters of inherited pastures and forests in Novalja. »The relevant cadastral parcels were subject to cadastral surveys. These are pastures I inherited from my father, and I have a shared ownership stake with others. I intend to include them in my asset declaration during the annual submission,« Dabo announced.

Ivica Ledenko from the Bridge party (Most) also did not declare inherited property in Trbounje near Drniš, which consists of 34,000 square meters of farmland and pastures, including a house of 352 square meters. Ledenko co-owns these properties with 16 others.

In his response to Oštro, he explained that in rural areas, ownership of parcels is not »cleared« and that inheritance laws have multiplied the number of owners over the years.

He claims he does not possess the aforementioned properties and had expected this issue would be resolved through a survey by the State Geodetic Administration, which did not happen. He lamented that he hadn’t had the opportunity to consult with the Commission for the Prevention of Conflict of Interest on this matter due to »getting accustomed to the work of the Parliament, finding accommodation in Zagreb, and other administrative responsibilities.«

Milorad Pupovac from the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) did not report two properties owned by his domestic partner in Velika Popina near Gračac. These properties total 7,600 square meters and are co-owned by Pupovac’s partner and several others. Pupovac did not respond to Oštro’s inquiry.

His party colleague Dragana Jeckov also failed to declare two properties owned by her husband. These are farmlands in Negoslavci near Vukovar, totalling 30,300 square meters. After our inquiry, Jeckov apologized for the oversight and promised to correct her asset declaration.

One-Fifth of HDZ MPs Registered Bonds

In addition to a large number of properties, an analysis of the assets of the current Croatian Parliament revealed that more than half of the members own various business shares, stocks, or other securities. Oštro analysed data on a total of 192 businesses owned by MPs and found seven undeclared companies and 15 other inaccurate entries.

The highest number of stock owners – 35 MPs – reported a total of 78 shares, with those from Hrvatski Telekom being the most common (23). Government bonds are less popular in asset declarations, with 24 MPs registering a total of 34 bonds.

Among them, 11 out of 55 members from the ruling HDZ party – who offered these financial documents to citizens in 2023 – registered bonds. In February of that same year, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stated that they »wouldn’t issue them if they weren’t convinced that they were a good opportunity.«

According to data from the State Treasury, of the 45 analysed companies, nine received payments from the state budget this year. This totalled nearly 250,000 euros for various services – ranging from health and promotional activities to official trips and strategic reserves.

Unsubmitted Asset Declarations

During our investigation, 17 MPs had not published asset declarations or had not updated them. Following our inquiry at the beginning of this month, newly received asset declarations of four MPs were published – Roma representative Veljko Kajtazi, HDZ member Krešimir Ačkar, who is also the mayor of Velika Gorica, Marin Mandarić, the mayor of Đakovo, and Ljubica Lukačić.

Alongside Mandarić and Lukačić, who had not submitted asset declarations when Oštro sent its inquiries, another seven MPs also failed to do so.

Mato Franković and Zoran Gregurović, HDZ mayors of Dubrovnik and Krapina, respectively, informed Oštro that these were unintentional oversights and promised to update their asset declarations. Their party colleague Anđelka Salopek explained that she had not managed to submit her asset declaration on time due to a death in the family.

Dario Zurovec, mayor of Sveta Nedelja, stated to Oštro that the Commission advised him that he did not need to submit a new asset declaration. But the Commission informed Oštro that new MPs must submit new asset declarations if they hold another position for which they have already filed a declaration upon taking on their new role.

Dubravko Bilić, the SDP mayor of Ludbreg, assured Oštro that he would update his information.

HDZ member Andro Krstulović Opara did not respond to Oštro’s inquiry, but afterward submitted an updated asset declaration to the Commission. However, it has not yet been updated online.

Veselko Gabričević from the Croatian Party of Pensioners (HSU) also did not respond to Oštro’s inquiry about why he had not submitted his asset declaration on time, nor did HDZ’s Ljubica Lukačić and her party colleagues Marin Mandarić, and Ivan Budalić, the mayor of Imotski.

For six MPs, the Commission responded that they had not yet received the asset declarations in physical form. Five of them sent updated versions electronically on the same day or shortly after Oštro’s inquiry.

Igor Peternel, elected to the Parliament on DP’s list, sent his asset declaration to Oštro, but it was not included in the investigation as it had not yet been published on the Commission’s website, given that it had not been received by them.

The Commission also stated that »in relation to those required to submit asset declarations, we typically periodically open cases, and therefore, for all those who have not submitted their asset declarations upon assuming office, cases will be opened at the same time.« They sent an informational email so that MPs »would not learn about the opening of cases through the media.«

Parliament Members and Their Finances

A total of 134 MPs reported some form of savings. The largest savings by far belong to HDZ’s Pero Ćosić, who declared over 402,000 euros. Over 200,000 euros were also reported by Ivica Mesić from the DP, Rada Borić from We Can!, SDP’s Arsen Bauk, former MEP and independent MP Marijana Petir, Hungarian national minority representative Robert Jankovics, and independent MP Željko Lacković.

Regarding debts, 108 MPs reported having loans. The highest loan amount belongs to Most’s Ante Kujundžić, who has a debt of 293,000 euros, followed by Mišel Jakšić from SDP with 257,000 euros, and Tomislav Josić from DP and Josip Đakić from HDZ, with debts of 252,000 and 250,000 euros, respectively.

Oštro will continue to monitor and investigate the officials’ assets and update the Asset Detector data.

If you have information about undeclared or incorrectly declared assets of officials, you can help us. Share any information you have, and we will independently verify it and include it in our database.

Contact us at detektorimovine@portal-ostro.hr.