Dubrovnik Airport Scandal – Wrong Pipes Used, €22 Million Must be Returned

November the 3rd, 2026 – The Dubrovnik Airport scandal is being hailed as among the worst ever involving EU cash and an airport, with the wrong piping installed and a massive €22 million now needing to be returned. Dubrovnik Airport must return €22 euros received of European Union funds after the uncovering of a scandal like few could have imagined. Index reports that the decision was made due to established irregularities in public procurement procedures during the airport reconstruction project, which began a whole thirteen years ago and was one of the largest infrastructure projects co-financed with EU funds. problematic procurement processes and unusable system… The total value of the reconstruction amounted to an enormous €230 million, of which almost €160 million was non-refundable The total amount that must now be returned represents around 14 percent of those funds. “It’s an amount of approximately €22 million that must be returned. That’s about 14 percent of the non-refundable funds provided by the European Union. The problem related to public procurement procedures and the signing of the main contracts, mostly in the period from 2013 to 2017,” explained Viktor Šober, director of Dubrovnik Airport. Among the disputed public procurement procedures, the one for the aircraft fuel supply system stands out in particular. The problem arose because the wrong pipes were installed during construction. “We engaged a serious international company specialised in underground hydrant systems for fuel delivery to the apron. They are not optimistic,” Šober added. Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Franković confirmed the scale of the problem. “The fact is that ten public procurements were penalised, and instead of adequate pipes for aviation fuel, sewage pipes were installed, which is why the entire system is not operational,” Franković said. information was received about the case in 2022… The European Public Prosecutor’s Office also commented on the genuinely somewhat shocking Dubrovnik Airport scandal case. They explained that they received information from national authorities back in 2022, but decided not to take over the case because the reported facts were outside their temporal jurisdiction. Former airport director Roko Tolić, now executive director of Airports of Montenegro, also reacted to the scandal. He claims that the fuel system was not constructed during his term. “The building permit for that facility was issued on the 3rd of September 2018, seven whole months after my departure, and the works were carried out from September 2018 and completed during 2019. Whether the installed pipes are in accordance with the permit and the project is determined by a technical inspection before the competent authority. I cannot speak about the pipes and the as-built condition from my own knowledge because I did not participate in those works,” Tolić said. The management of Dubrovnik Airport emphasises that this is a serious issue for them, given that they invested significant funds in a system that they ultimately cannot use at all. The post Dubrovnik Airport Scandal – Wrong Pipes Used, €22 Million Must be Returned appeared first on Total Croatia .