The trial in the corruption case, which involves the manipulation of passes on state exams, is ongoing and will resume in late October. The first accused in the manipulation of passes was Josipa Plesnić, who recently pleaded guilty. Other defendants have also pleaded guilty, with the sole exception of Nada Budimir, a former member of the board for state professional exams, who is now retired.
Budimir is accused of having allowed Ana-Mari Škoro, who worked as a trainee in the Ministry of Culture, to pass. Škoro had reached a plea agreement with the State Prosecutor's Office (USK) for a light sentence. The indictment states that Škō took the state professional exam in Zagreb on 25 January 2020, and did not pass the specific part of the exam that was assessed by Budimir. Budimir directed Šk to retake the exam within 30 days.
Following this, Š called Josipa Rimac. According to the indictment, Rimac told her to return, to greet Budimir on her behalf, and to convey to her that 'the state secretary is asking for her to be re-examined'. Budimir, according to the indictment, 'made a correction to the record by altering the previously entered negative responses to positive ones'. Following this, Budimir noted in the record that Š had passed the state professional exam in its entirety.
Budimir prepared an official note in which she stated that, at the candidate's personal request, she had conducted a re-examination, asking the same questions as the first time, and concluded that the candidate had passed the oral part of the exam. The candidate will be summoned as a witness to the continuation of the trial, as will the secretary of the board who witnessed the first and second examination records of the candidate. However, the candidate will not receive a court summons and will not be questioned as a witness, despite having admitted to interventions in the state professional exams.
On Monday, recordings of conversations between Josipa Rimac and the candidate were played in court. Prior to the exam, on 17 January 2020, the candidate called Josipa Rimac. The candidate greeted Rimac with 'Hello, boss', to which she replied 'Hello, darling'. Following the playback of the recordings, Budimir pointed out to the court that it should pay attention to the tone of voice of Josipa Rimac. Budimir stated: 'From this, you will understand how angry she was that I was undermining the candidate, but you will also understand the nature of our relationship'.
