Dario Simic arrested in Croatia over suspected tourism corruption | OneFootball

Former Croatia defender Dario Simic has been arrested in Zagreb as part of a probe into suspected corruption in the tourism sector.

According to L'Équipe, the former AC Milan and Monaco player, now 50 with 100 caps, is expected to be released after prosecutors declined to seek pre-trial custody on Tuesday.

Investigators suspect he unlawfully obtained in 2021 a permit to operate a small campsite on Croatia’s Adriatic coast. Two others, a regional tourism official and a local entrepreneur alleged to have assisted him, were also arrested. The case centres on a 10-pitch site in the town of Tisno.

The town’s municipal authorities filed a complaint in 2024 over construction within a protected coastal area.

Simic’s lawyer, Ivan Stanic, rejects the allegations and maintains his client acted honestly and with integrity, adding that Simic does not feel guilty.

A Dinamo Zagreb academy product, Simic spent a decade in Italy with Inter and Milan, winning the Champions League in 2003 and 2007. He later played for Monaco from 2008 to 2010 before retiring after a brief return to Dinamo. He has since launched a bottled mineral water brand distributed across the Balkans.

Source: L'Équipe