Based on an investigation into illegal activities in Croatian Forests (HŠ) initiated in 2023 in cooperation with the HŠ Management and a police criminal complaint, USKOK has launched an investigation against entrepreneur Mario Janković (50) and 16 other HŠ employees for receiving and giving bribes to favor timber buyers.
The prosecution and police, without specifying identities, reported that they suspect Janković of having given money and various services to responsible persons in Croatian Forests from March 2024 to September 10, 2025, and in return, he ensured preferential treatment in the allocation of wood assortments for his own and related companies.
USKOK and the police add that 16 responsible persons from HŠ-as in the areas of Zagreb, Bjelovar, Vrbovec, Garešnica, Grubišno Polje, Ivanska, Daruvar, Čazma and Suhopolje are suspected of accepting bribes. In doing so, they provided Janković and his partners with priority in the delivery of wood, in the quantity, quality, type and dynamics that he himself determined, regardless of the real needs of the market and other contractual buyers.
It is also suspected that the head of the Commercial Affairs Sector at the HŠ Directorate, Darko Sušanj (62), in return for a cash reward, ordered his subordinates to ensure deliveries of wood according to the requests of Janković, the owner of the companies Atlas MR and Jasen, as well as other companies such as Herc Trade, Drvna industrija Zelina, Interijer Sabljo, Slavonija DI and the Stolarija Vever carpentry business from Novi Marof.
According to media reports, among the managers at HŠ who are suspected of fraud are Ivan Cug, head of the Forestry Department of the Bjelovar branch, Dalibor Bakran, head of commercial affairs at the same branch, Slaven Šarić, manager of the Vrbovec Forestry Department, and Mladen Greidl, manager of the Garešnica Forestry Department, as well as several forestry technicians and inspectors.
USKOK alleges that Janković gave Sušanj a bribe of 15.000 euros so that he would secure the requested quantities of wood, take care of the delivery of wood, and contact subordinate managers to transfer the obligation to deliver wood. Unofficially, it is learned that Sušanj admitted to investigators that he received bribes to favor buyers.
The prosecution suspects that Ivan Cug received a bribe of 10.000 euros from Janković for securing the transfer of the obligation to deliver wood from one branch to another, while Dalibor Bakran received at least 50.000 euros from Janković for this service, as well as for opening orders for the delivery of wood to companies of Janković's interest.
USKOK and the police also suspect that Slaven Šarić ensured Janković's delivery of wood and selected and stored higher-quality logs for him, for which he received 500 euros, and he also accepted an offer to perform construction work and furnish a facility owned by him for free, worth at least 5000 euros.
According to the suspicions of the prosecution and the police, one of the suspects received a bribe of 5000 euros from Janković to ensure the delivery of wood, select and store better quality logs, and reduce the quality of the wood, and thus its value.
They reduced the quality of the wood, and thus its value
Furthermore, the suspected forestry technician from the Ivanska Forestry Department received at least 6600 euros from Janković for ensuring the selection of higher-quality logs and the transfer of logs worth 6360 euros and failing to disclose this in the HŠ's business documents.
USKOK also suspects that the Čazma Forestry Inspectorate inspector received 5600 euros from Janković to enable him to receive preferential wood deliveries. The prosecutor's office also claims that the inspector also reduced the quality of the wood, and thus its value.
The other defendants received bribes ranging from 200 to 800 euros from Janković for services such as preferential wood deliveries, selection and storage of higher quality logs, reducing the quality and value of wood, and accepting complaints about wood quality without determining the actual condition.
USKOK will propose to the investigating judge of the Zagreb County Court to order pretrial detention for 14 defendants, and a precautionary measure of prohibition from carrying out business activities has been imposed on one defendant.
This case is one of three proceedings involving entrepreneur Janković, who, in addition to corruption, is also suspected of tax evasion and fraud against European Union funds.
On Thursday, USKOK reported that it had launched an investigation against Janković and five other suspects and one company on suspicion that they used false invoices to show non-existent timber turnover and then falsified tax returns, and laundered money by investing in cryptocurrencies, gold and loans.
The group charged by the prosecutor's office with criminal association, tax evasion, money laundering and assisting in tax evasion allegedly damaged the state budget by 831.000 euros and earned at least 205.000 euros.
Janković is also under investigation by the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in Zagreb for subsidy fraud in the purchase of used briquette machines from Serbia that were presented as new. According to media reports, his co-defendants, the married couple Ružica and Ivan Sabljo, pleaded guilty to the charges before European investigators.
Photo: HINA/Lana Slivar Dominić
