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Today Croatia elects a new parliament. In the past there have been repeated spectacular cases of corruption in the ruling party. The opposition therefore focused entirely on the issue of corruption during the election campaign. However, it is questionable whether she will be successful.
Adrijana Cvrtila says she wasn’t aware of the serious consequences the whole thing would have. “I was a bit naive.” Cvrtila lives in the small town of Kutina. There she worked in the company that is responsible for local waste processing and is owned by the municipality. She ended up being the CEO of the company.
Legend:
Adrijana Cvrtila once belonged to the liberal HSLS herself. However, the political pressure increased and she finally wanted to make the grievances public.
SRF/Janis Fahrländer
In this position, she was repeatedly asked to retain or hire certain people who had connections to local politics. This was requested by the mayor and individual members of the local council.
All of them were part of the ruling party HDZ or its coalition partner, the liberal HSLS, to which Cvrtila also belonged at the time. At the beginning she followed the instructions. But over time the pressure steadily increased. At some point she decided to make the grievances public.
The corruption scandal changes her life
What happened next still shapes the woman today. Adrijana Cvrtila lost her job. The four accused political figures were arrested, including the mayor. But while she still has no work to this day, the four people arrested were released after a short time. “There were no real consequences for them.”
The mayor is still in office, but has been expelled from his party. He appealed in court: the audio recording used by Cvrtila as evidence was illegal. The next instance has so far delayed the verdict. Cvrtila, on the other hand, faced nine defamation lawsuits. However, thanks to the implementation of the EU directive on the protection of whistleblowers, she was acquitted.
Typical case in Croatia
This case and the reaction of politicians are typical of the rampant corruption in the country, says investigative journalist Andrej Dimitrijevic: “It is an epidemic.” In this way, the ruling party secures votes in exchange for lucrative jobs in public companies.
Legend:
Investigative journalist Andrej Dimitrijevic speaks of an “epidemic” with regard to corruption in the country.
SRF/Janis Fahrländer
Through his work, Dimitrijevic repeatedly uncovers spectacular cases of corruption. Some reach into the government.
System of corruption
The ruling HDZ party has dominated Croatian politics since independence. During this time, according to Andrej Dimitrijevic, she has built a real system. But the worst thing is that people have gotten used to it. He therefore does not believe that anything would change significantly with a change of power.
Adrijana Cvrtila also doesn’t believe in the opposition’s promises. Because of her experiences, she doesn’t believe that politicians really want to solve the corruption problem. In any case, Cvrtila wants to continue fighting – on the one hand in court, but also in her organization to protect whistleblowers, which she founded two years ago.