16/07/2021 (Agence Europe) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on Friday 16 July that it had opened an investigation into corruption and abuse of office against the mayor of the Croatian town of Nova Gradiška and three other people. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Vinko Grgić, the mayor of Nova Gradiška asked the director of a construction company for a bribe in exchange for manipulating a procurement procedure in order to award him a project co-financed by the EU Cohesion Fund worth approximately €562,000, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office wrote in a statement. The town of Nova Gradiška is said to have suffered losses of around €12,000 and the EU Cohesion Fund as much as €57,000 as a result of this fraud. This is the first time that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has communicated on an investigation since it started its activities on 1 June (see EUROPE 12731/2). (MF)