USKOK Arrests Ex-Split Mayor Kerum in Vela Luka

Businessman and former Split mayor Zeljko Kerum was arrested early on Thursday in Vela Luka, on the island of Korcula, by the Police National Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (PNUSKOK) acting on orders from Croatia’s Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime, known as USKOK. It is the first criminal step in a case Croatian media have been calling the Prsut tavern affair for more than a year, and for Belgrade, still negotiating the European Union chapters on the judiciary and anti-corruption, it is a useful measure of how long a file travels inside a member state from a building inspector’s finding to a pair of handcuffs.

Officers reached the boat where Kerum had spent the night at 6 a.m. The evening before, he had been in the audience at an event in Vela Luka dedicated to the late singer Oliver Dragojevic.

What the prosecutors said

USKOK confirmed the operation the same morning without naming any of the suspects.

“Arrests and urgent evidentiary actions are being carried out by PNUSKOK on the orders of USKOK in the Split-Dalmatia and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties, involving several persons, over corruption offences.”

Searches and arrests ran in parallel across the two counties. Alongside Kerum, police detained Igor Sapunar, his nephew and the registered director of the company running the tavern, Tomislav Rezic, owner of the firm Lazina d.o.o., and Andrija Polic, a former official of the town administration in Kastela. Kerum and two others are accused of abuse of office and authority, or of inciting abuse of office and authority. The investigation covers the complex in Kastel Stafilic and a marina in Rogoznica. Kerum was brought in handcuffs to the search of his own villa.

Why is the Prsut tavern under investigation?

Building inspectors established back in 2019 that the structure had gone up without a construction permit, on land classified as particularly valuable arable soil. A demolition order was issued and became enforceable. It was never carried out.

Instead, in January 2023, Andrija Polic signed a legalisation decision stating that the buildings had existed before June 2011, the statutory cut-off date for legalisation. Satellite imagery from Croatia’s Geoportal tells a different story: the swimming pool, the chapel and the upper floor were not there at the time. The news site Telegram published its investigation into the construction irregularities and the disputed legalisation in May 2025, and from that point the file moved from an inspection register into a prosecutor’s one.

The birthday party that reached the Supreme Court

The timeline has a judicial branch as well. In early 2021, in the middle of Covid restrictions, the tavern hosted a private birthday party for footballer Ivica Mornar attended by five judges from Split. The then president of the Supreme Court, Djuro Sessa, opened proceedings in February 2021 against judges Bruno Klein, Silvije Covic, Dinko Mesin, Miha Mratovic and Tomislav Zlodre.

In five years the same building touched three separate arms of the state:

• the building inspectorate, which ordered demolition in 2019
• the local administration in Kastela, which issued the legalisation decision in 2023
• the judiciary, first through disciplinary proceedings against the judges, now through USKOK

The prosecutors flagged a next step, again without a date.

“A decision on further proceedings will be made after the suspects are questioned, and the public will be informed.”

Kerum served as mayor of Split from 2009 to 2013 and has remained one of the most recognisable figures in the Dalmatian economy. Until a final verdict he stands accused rather than convicted, and holding that line will be the hardest part for Croatian outlets that have followed the case since the first inspection report.