Former Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Žalac has been sentenced to two years in prison for corruption, under the terms of a plea deal with prosecutors.

Žalac and three other defendants - who remain on trial - are accused of influence peddling, abuse of office, and manipulating public procurement. According to prosecutors, their actions caused losses of at least 300,000 euros to Croatia and over 1 million euros to the European Union.

“I have no comment…” said Žalac as she left the Zagreb County Court on Thursday.

Personal comment: I bet she won’t even serve the full two years. She will be released after a short while for “good behavior” or something like that…