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In the first three month of this year, there has been 21,2 % less reported offences of white collar crime than in the same period last year. According to the information by the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Interior, between January and 1 April, 1,428 white collar offences have been reported in 2009, while 1,812 in the same period of 2008.

The most frequent offences are customs avoidance, abuse of position and authority, forgeries of official documents, business operation frauds etc. The Ministry of Interior (MUP) estimates that 5,385 criminal charges (those discovered) caused 1.092 billion kunas of material damage. Out of the total number of reported offences more than 25 % were recorded in the Zagreb County. Unlike this year, 2008 started with 14.7% more reports of white collar crime than in 2007. In spite of all the public awareness campaigns and anti-corruption activities, it is interesting to see that the number of reported white collar offences in Q1 of 2009 was 41 % lower than in the same period of 2008 (2009- 53 reported, 2008 -53). Also, the number of reported organized crime offences reduced by 30.3 %. Until April 1st, 182 such offences were reported, in comparison to 261 from last year. When referring to white collar crime, we have to point out that the number of those offences reported by the police and the state attorney’s office does not mean that these will be completely processed by the Croatian courts. A published research from last year that compiled data for seven years showed that nearly 80% of white collar offences were acquitted based on lack of evidence. Decisions for unconditional prison terms were given to 662 people (6.8 %).