Mlada Wrba (1945–2008) was a Kresimirian politician who served as a Senator for District V (Moskiprovac) from 1982 to 1992. A member of Blue Dawn, she initially rose to prominence as the handpicked successor to the legendary Divine Founder Nika Radman.
However, her political career ended in disgrace following the Vijrje Restoration Scandal of 1990–1992. The revelations of her embezzlement of public funds resulted in a catastrophic defeat in the 1992 election, where she received only 1.2% of the vote, the lowest share for an incumbent Senator in Kresimirian history.
Early Life and Political Rise
Mlada Wrba was born in 1945 in Vijrje, the administrative center of Moskiprovac. She came from a family of minor civil servants and studied Accountin at Vijrje City University.
In the 1970s, she joined the local staff of Nika Radman, the longest-serving Senator in the Republic’s history. Radman, who had held the district since 1922, came to view Wrba as a capable administrator and a loyal protégé. When Radman announced his retirement at the age of 80 prior to the 1982 election, he endorsed Wrba to fill his seat.
Riding the wave of Radman’s legacy and the organizational strength of Blue Dawn, Wrba won the 1982 election with 25.8% of the vote, securing a victory alongside the rising Vjetrusa politician Bozidarka Borsa.
Senatorial Career (1982–1990)
For her first eight years in office, Wrba was considered a competent, if unremarkable, backbencher. She sat on the Committee for Cultural Preservation, a sub-body of the Council for Education. Her primary political focus was securing federal funds for Moskiprovac, which had struggled economically compared to the neighboring capital district of Sinj.
In 1988, she championed the Heritage Restoration Bill, which allocated significant funds to restore historic buildings in Vijrje that had been damaged during the 1931 Anniversary Attack. The bill was popular locally, and Wrba was praised for honoring the district’s history.
The Vijrje Restoration Scandal
In late 1990, journalists from the Kresimirian Herald began investigating irregularities in the Heritage Restoration Fund. They discovered that contracts for the restoration work had been awarded to a shell company, “V-Construction,” which had no employees and no equipment.
The Investigation
In 1991, the Council for Internal Affairs launched a formal fraud investigation. The probe revealed that “V-Construction” was registered to Wrba’s brother-in-law. Investigators found that over ₭15 million (Krejts) intended for the restoration of the 1931 Memorial Square had been diverted to fund the construction of a lavish private villa for Wrba on the outskirts of Vijrje, as well as the purchase of luxury vehicles and foreign jewelry.
Public Outrage
The scandal touched a nerve in Moskiprovac. The theft of funds meant to honor victims of the 1931 terrorist attack was viewed as a grave insult to the district’s history. Protesters gathered daily outside her office, dubbing her “The Thief of Martyrs.”
Despite the overwhelming evidence and public fury, Wrba refused to resign, claiming the investigation was a “political witch hunt” orchestrated by the Civic Renewal Front.
The 1992 Election and Defeat
By the time of the 1992 election, Wrba had become a pariah. The national leadership of Blue Dawn, led by Ljubo Sanjakorin, effectively abandoned her campaign, fearing her toxicity would damage the party’s chances in other districts. However, due to party bylaws regarding incumbent renominations, she remained on the ballot.
The election results were devastating.
- Bozidarka Borsa (Vjetrusa) surged to 42.0%, capitalizing on the conservative outrage to become the senior Senator.
- Florijan Kostic (CRF) won the second seat with 32.5%, campaigning on a platform of anti-corruption.
- Mlada Wrba received just 1.2% of the vote.
It remains the worst electoral defeat for a major party incumbent in the history of the Assembly.
Later Life
Two months after the election, stripped of her parliamentary immunity, Wrba was arrested and charged with eighteen counts of fraud and embezzlement. In 1993, she was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in the Sinj State Penitentiary. The state seized her villa and assets to repay the stolen funds.
She was released in 2003 and lived the remainder of her life in obscurity and poverty in a small apartment in Novi Otonik. She died in 2008. Her name remains a byword for political corruption in Kresimiria.