Anti-corruption agency raids notorious criminal group over land deal
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Corruption investigators spent the morning searching the town of Čepin, focusing on a half-million-euro land swap and the five people suspected of profiting from it. The list of those under scrutiny includes a man previously arrested for similar dealings, a former national football player, and the father of another current footballer. The Čepinska group has long been a fixture of the local police blotter; they are now a fixture of a land-valuation probe.
The judiciary had a busy day elsewhere: a former mayor remains in custody after a judge rejected her request for release on 'business grounds,' and an SDP official faces new allegations of using EU funds to pay for sports travel. In Dalmatia, residents were told to keep their windows shut as an underground fire sent smoke into their homes. It is a season of discomfort, both for those breathing the air and those facing the courts.
The Minister of Culture is currently in a public dispute with writer Miljenko Jergović, who accused her of ideological manipulation after his funding was questioned. Arguments over the intersection of state money and art are a national tradition, though they are usually conducted with less directness than this exchange.