CROATIA SEEKS POLICE COOPERATION AGREEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000526 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE, INL/AAE, S/CT, L/LEI, DS/IP/EUR JUSTICE FOR ANDREA TISI SARAJEVO FOR LEGATT:MOORE ROME FOR DEA VIENNA FOR DHS:COTE E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/13/2016 TAGS: KJUS KCRM PTER PREL ASEC HR SUBJECT: CROATIA SEEKS POLICE COOPERATION AGREEMENT REF: A. FRIEDMAN-BELL E-MAIL OF 1/20/06 ¶B. ZAGREB 475 Classified By: Poloff Justin Friedman, reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (U) This is an action request for EUR/SCE. SUMMARY and ACTION REQUEST -------------- ¶2. (C) In an April 11 meeting, Minister of Interior Ivica Kirin asked the Ambassador to support the signing of a bilateral police cooperation agreement. As per ref A which provided the Department with a draft text, Croatian law enforcement authorities need this agreement to allow direct, investigator-to-investigator contact between U.S. and Croatian law enforcement officials. While this is the first time the GoC has used a high-level intervention to request this agreement, working level GoC contacts have repeatedly asked Post and visiting law enforcement attaches for almost a year for such an agreement to facilitate law enforcement cooperation. Croatian law requires that all official law enforcement contact, including much routine RSO business, be channeled through the Ministry of Interior,s INTERPOL office unless we sign a bilateral agreement. Post strongly urges the Departments of State and Justice to expedite a review of the proposed Croatian draft agreement with an eye toward signing the agreement at a possible high level event in Washington, DC in June. END SUMMARY and ACTION REQUEST. AGREEMENT SOUGHT -------------- ¶3. (C) In an April 11 meeting following the donation of USG-funded anti-TIP equipment (ref B),Minister of Interior Ivica Kirin asked the Ambassador and the visiting Sarajevo-based LEGATT to help expedite the signing of a bilateral police cooperation agreement. In ref A, Post forwarded to the Department a draft text based on a similar agreement the GoC signed with the UK which would provide a legal basis for cooperation between all USG and GoC law enforcement entities. This agreement would roll in a previously sought bilateral Customs cooperation agreement. In previous meetings with Poloff and RSO, as well as with our non-resident LEGATT, DEA Attache, and DHS Attache, GoC officials have raised the need to conclude such an agreement. LEGAL REQUIREMENT -------------- ¶4. (U) Ministry of Interior (MUP) officials have explained previously to Poloff the necessity for the GoC to sign bilateral agreements with other nations, law enforcement agencies. Croatian law is based on continental law, which holds that government authorities may only conduct activities which are expressly permitted by law. The current Law on Police allows the MUP to share information solely through INTERPOL channels unless a bilateral agreement is in place. Although changes to the Law on Police have been under development since last summer, the generally accepted interpretation of constitutional law and conventional legal practice in Croatia holds that GoC must have a bilateral agreement in place and cannot unilaterally share law enforcement information. Further, Croatian law on personal data privacy protection requires this same bilateral agreement to ensure that information provided to foreign law enforcement agencies is protected in accordance with Croatian regulations. USG INTERESTS SERVED -------------- ¶5. (C) Currently, almost all law enforcement cooperation is channeled through the MUP,s INTERPOL office. Although Post,s RSO has established an effective working relationship with this office for regular business, this limited channel restricts our ability to have USG investigation and support requests met in a timely manner. Further, since the RSO is the only resident USG law enforcement officer in Zagreb, the Croatian law enforcement community has limited access to USG support on criminal investigations with a U.S. link. ¶6. (C) Post believes that there may be an under-investigated ZAGREB 00000526 002 OF 002 nexus between some Croatian criminal groups and U.S. registered corporations. However, lack of easy communication between U.S. and Croatian law enforcement has limited investigation into these links. Convicted organized criminal Hrvoje Petrac, currently in Greece awaiting extradition to Croatia on kidnapping charges, runs parts of his business empire through U.S. registered corporations. Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic and Lazo Paic, the lead State Prosecutor on economic crime cases, told Poloff that their investigations into money laundering often lead to dead-ends with Delaware-registered corporations. Along the same lines, Customs officials have requested USG assistance in investigation tax evasion cases involving private yachts harbored in Croatian waters but officially registered as being the property of Delaware-registered companies. CROATIA READY FOR CLOSER LAW ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) In seeking this agreement, Minister Kirin and Director General Marijan Benko emphasized that they will judge the performance of the police forces under their command by their success in identifying, capturing, and prosecuting criminals. Kirin said that GoC law enforcement was well aware of the smuggling rings that pervade the region who seek to use the potential weakness of Croatia,s 1000km border with Bosnia and Herzegovina to smuggle people, weapons, drugs and other contraband through Croatia into Europe. Kirin,s greatest concern is that terrorist groups operating in Bosnia would link up with Russian and Chinese organized criminals and increase the deadly capacities of terrorists to strike targets in Europe, as well as foreign embassies in Croatia. With that threat in mind, Kirin seeks to de-bureaucratize law enforcement cooperation with this agreement to make bilateral cooperation more effective, comprehensive, and timely. FRANK