Ivan Turudic looks set to become Croatia’s new attorney general after being selected as the favourite for the post by the government – although some opposition MPs expressed dissent.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that the government will nominate Ivan Turudic, judge of the High Criminal Court, as the new state attorney, saying his program was of the highest quality.
“Based on the program, the conversation and what we could hear from the candidates yesterday, the committee unanimously decided that the government today nominates Ivan Turudic as candidate,” Plenkovic told the government session, ending weeks of media speculation about the candidate to lead the prosecution.
He added that he is a prominent judge with extensive experience who worked at the Municipal and County Courts in Virovitica. He was president of the County Court in Zagreb and is currently a judge of the High Criminal Court.
Turudic was also judge in the trial of former PM Ivo Sanader who was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2012 for taking bribes from two foreign companies. That ruling, however, was overturned by the Constitutional Court. In an 187-page ruling, the Constitutional Court said Turudic had violated Sanader’s constitutional rights and also violated European practice with the verdict.
On Wednesday, the government commission, including the Prime Minister and seven ministers, interviewed four candidates for the post of attorney general. “All the members of this committee assessed that his [Turudic’s] program was of the highest quality and that he had the most convincing arguments in the conversation regarding the functioning of the State Attorney’s Office,” Plenkovic said.
The government will send its proposal to parliament on Thursday.
Plenkovic also said that under his government, the State Attorney’s Office, DORH, and the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime, USKOK, will work unhindered in the fight against corruption, crime and other illegalities. “We see the State Attorney’s Office as a body that should be independent, free from any political or any other form of influence in its work. This is a clear commitment of this government,” Plenkovic said.
Lawyer Mladen Dragicevic, current Deputy Chief State Attorney Emilijo Kalabric, Deputy County State Attorney in Split Niksa Wagner and Turudic came to the interviews alphabetically.
While the government welcomed his appointment, Some opposition MPs condemned it, calling Turudic a tool of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ.
Dalija Oreskovic from the Name and Surname Party, SSIP, said: “Turudic is a pure HDZ man, he didn’t even run away from it at the parliamentary committee, it was a reference for him.”
“If Turudic becomes the state attorney general, as a person who does not hide his connections with the HDZ … we can no longer expect anything,” said Sandra Benicic of “We Can!” (Mozemo!)
A majority, or at least 76 votes in parliament, is required to elect a new Attorney General, who is appointed for a four-year term. He will get the necessary number of votes, given that the ruling HDZ has a majority in the parliament.
