Financial outcome
Rijeka: gain returned after sorting-plant convictions
What is established
EPPO reports plea-bargain convictions and returned illicit gain; that recovery does not settle the challenged grant correction or its unverified final repayment.
Open questions
- The Fund’s underlying correction decision and the objection outcome.
- Final repayment balance, interest and payments made.
- Fine payment and later outcomes in the remaining criminal proceedings.
Money journey: what is documented
These stages do not prove that the same euro passed through every step. Grants and contracts may be part of a budget, not additional spending.
Unknown is not zero.
Every amount and its period
Budget / estimate1 amount
Not an established loss. Cost period not stated; relationship to the City’s EUR 3.8 million figure unreconciled against contracts.
Legal & financial outcomes3 amounts
EPPO confirms return but gives no payment date; not an unrecovered loss. Separate from the fine and disputed correction.
EPPO reports an imposed fine, not verified payment or the exact judgment date. Neither return of gain nor grant correction.
At least EUR 3.8 million, possibly interest. Signed reply of 10 March 2026 gives receipt on 29 January and objection on 11 February; final decision and repayment unconfirmed.
What the money tells us
EPPO says the construction company returned €319,341.97 of illicit gain and received a €400,000 fine; payment of that fine is unverified. Returned gain is not an unrecovered loss. On 31 January 2026, the City reported correction exposure of at least €3.8 million, potentially plus interest, but subsequently challenged the decision. EPPO’s €3.6 million project value and the City’s correction figure have not been reconciled. Project value, returned gain, the fine and the correction describe different things and cannot be added as money lost.
Figures have different purposes and periods. They should not automatically be added together or treated as losses.
Read the full explanation
On 27 March 2025, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) reported plea-bargain convictions and returned illicit gain in the Mihačeva Draga sorting-plant case. Separately, Rijeka reported a 100% grant correction. Its signed reply of 10 March 2026 says the City received the decision on 29 January 2026 and challenged it on 11 February 2026. The objection outcome and final repayment balance are unverified, as are later outcomes in the remaining criminal proceedings.
Institutions and companies mentioned in the sources
Being mentioned does not establish guilt, ownership or responsibility.
- European Public Prosecutor’s Office
- Županijski sud u Zagrebu
- Grad Rijeka
- Fond za zaštitu okoliša i energetsku učinkovitost
- Ministarstvo regionalnoga razvoja i fondova Europske unije
Check the sources 5
Open the documents on their publishers’ websites. Links lead to the public originals, not a private archive.
- 01
- 02
- 03
- 04
- 05
Other cases in this county
Public information reviewed through · Report an error or request a correction