A Zagreb County Court judge on Thursday set 30-day detention for former minister Gabrijela Zalac and three other suspects in a case dubbed Software in which they are suspected of embezzling €1.8 million from the EU and Croatian budgets.

The pre-trial detention for the four suspects was requested by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).

The pretrial detention for Minister Zalac and businessmen Mladen Simunac and Marko Jukic was set to prevent witnesses tampering.

The head of Croatia’s Central Finance and Contracting Agency (SAFU), Tomislav Petric, will be detained also due to the risk of repeating the crime, as he is still the director of this agency.

During their interrogation after their arrest on Wednesday, all the four suspects denied any wrongdoing.

The EPPO says in a press release that the alleged irregularities “occurred in 2017 and 2018, in the process of the public procurement of an information system for strategic planning and development management. During this time, the former minister was responsible for both the lawful conduct of public procurement procedures at the MRRFEU (her ministry), and for proposing the appointment and relieving of duties the Director of the SAFU.”

The Croatian police specify that the former minister is suspected of abuse of office and influence peddling, SAFU director Petric of abuse of office while Simunac and Jukic are suspected of having encouraged the office-holders to commit the wrongdoings.