The State Prosecutor's Office (USKPO) has issued a new ruling on the expansion of the probe into illegal waste disposal on Croatian territory. The expansion now covers five additional individuals and three companies, in addition to the one already under investigation.
The probe was originally launched on 14 February 2025, and was subsequently updated on 13 June 2025 and 23 March 2026. Following the update of 23 March 2026, the probe involved a total of 14 defendants and four legal entities. The USKPO is now proceeding against a total of 14 defendants and four legal entities. Among the new suspects are goldsmith and entrepreneur Paško Dodić, board member of Pripuz's Cezar, Željko Teufel, director of the local utility, Snježana Tomljanović, and supervisory engineer Dorian Šipoš. The new ruling also covers previously charged entities Plastrutor and three other legal entities: Gradsko komunalno društvo Senj, Mirador Projects, and Cezar from the Pribić group.
The investigators accuse the actors of serious crimes against the environment, endangering nature with waste, and forging official or business documents, in part as part of a criminal association. The USKPO did not propose the imposition of pre-trial detention, as there were no legal grounds for such a measure, so the suspects will defend themselves from freedom.
The first phase of the expanded probe covers the period from the beginning of 2020 to April 2021, in the area of Varaždin, Gospić, Senj and Sveti Jur. In that period, waste was delivered to a municipal landfill near Senj, located within the boundaries of the Velebić nature park. The USKPO suspects that Josip Šincek, as the actual manager of the business of Tip Resurs and other related companies, and the person responsible for waste management, and Monika Šincek, as director of Tip Resurs, agreed on a deal with Snježana Tomljanović and Toni Žunić from the local utility. Tomljanović was the director of that municipal utility, and Žunić was the head of the technical department. The company manages a municipal landfill of non-hazardous waste near Senj, which is located within the Velebić nature park.
The US is suspected of having organized and allowed waste to be delivered to the landfill in violation of the permit for waste management in the Lika-Senj county. The waste had hazardous properties and was not permitted to be deposited at that location. The Šinceks agreed with Tomljanović and Žunić to sign a contract for business cooperation between the local utility and Tip Resurs. The local utility was obliged to take 4,000 tons of waste without charge. The US is suspected that the waste in question was waste with dangerous properties that was falsely presented as material intended for covering mixed waste. Tomljanović and Žunić are accused of not having established whether the waste met the criteria for acceptance at the landfill for non-hazardous waste, and of not having ensured that the waste was inspected and weighed before disposal.
Monika Šincek, according to the investigators, prepared at least 150 accompanying documents for the waste. In them, it was falsely stated that waste was being delivered to the landfill from Varaždin, which met the criteria for disposal. Based on these accompanying documents, Monika Šincek, according to the instructions of Josip Šincek, entered false data into the records on the movement and traffic of waste. Žunić is suspected of having allowed the recording of false data on the type and composition of waste for the local utility, on the basis of the same documents. The US is suspect that Josip Šincek, through Tip Res as a supplier of waste and other related companies as carriers, in agreement with Monika, organized and ordered the transfer of waste from Vara to Sen. Part of the waste came from Gospić. Šincek arranged with the supplier in Slovenia that part of the imported waste intended for recovery would be diverted from Gospić and transported to the landfill near Senj. At least 2,890.23 tons of waste with hazardous properties ended up at that site.
The second part of the expansion of the probe relates to the period from October 2023 to July 2024 in Zagreb, Sisak, Gospić and Benkovac. The US is suspect that Josip Šincek and Paško Dodić agreed that waste would be taken up at an inactive mineral extraction field in Benkovac, owned by Dodić, which was not intended to be recovered or disposed of in a proper manner. The plan was to dispose of the waste in the environment so that Tip Res and the associated company would gain a financial benefit. The agreement was that the waste would be disposed of in a building on the basis of documentation on the so-called installation. Josip Šincek, together with Željko Teufel, a member of the board of directors of Prib's Cezar, organized the diversion of waste to Benkovac. Cezar had a contract with Tip Res according to which the waste was to be taken up and processed at the site in Gospić, for which Tip Res had a permit for waste management. The US is suspect that the waste did not end up at the agreed location in Gospić, but at Dodić's land in Benkovac, for which there was no corresponding permit for waste management. The diversion of the vehicles and the timing of the deliveries was organized by Teufel. Cezar, through its employees, at Teuf's order, issued at least 330 accompanying documents for the waste, which were presented as if the waste was going to Gospić, although in reality it was brought and unloaded in Benkovac. The US is suspect that Teuf entered the data into the computer systems of Cezar.
The supervisory engineer was also involved in the cover-up, having falsely reported the start of the works and certified the fake construction diary. The supervisory engineer charged such services for three thousand euros. At the Benkovac site, from December 2023 to March 2024, at least 6,475.85 tons of waste with elevated levels of metals, microplastics and dissolved organic carbon were deposited. This permanently degraded the soil and rock substrate, with the risk of polluting the groundwater. The company that took over the waste in Benkovac on these works charged at least 390,712.90 euros. Of this amount, 276,150 euros were transferred to the account of another related company, which the US is treating as an unlawful gain in property. The total quantity of waste disposed of illegally at the two sites amounts to almost 9,400 tons.
Five people were arrested at the behest of the US in the area of Čakovec, Zagreb, Senj and Karlovac. The arrested are suspected of being linked to the illegal dumping of waste in Gospić, and of committing serious crimes against the environment as part of a criminal association. Among those arrested were the Zagreb goldsmith Paško Dodić, the board member of the company CE-ZA-R from the CIOS group, Željko Teuf, and the director of the local utility, Snježana Tomljanović, and one supervisory engineer, who is suspected of being part of a criminal association. The lawyers of the arrested Teuf confirmed that their client had denied the charges, presented a defence and answered all the questions put to him.
The Minister of Environment, Marija Vučković, stated that the contract with Prib's CE-ZA-R for the work of 11 million euros had not yet been signed. Vučković said that the expansion of the probe and the new developments would affect the public procurement procedure and the further course of the contract. She said that the aim was to repair the waste in Gospić as soon as possible, and that they had not given up on determining the polluter and the damage he would have to pay for. She pointed out that they were conducting a lawful public procurement procedure, and that the criminal investigation and the determination of responsibility were two separate procedures. Vu was to consider the possible cancellation of the tender if it was found that there were valid reasons for doing so, and that the repair of the waste in Gospić would be carried out within the time limits.
