"Neither Prime Minister Sanader nor anyone else from the Government is in conflict of interest," spokesman Ratko Macek told reporters in the parliament building.
He went on to say that the Pozega-Slavonski Brod County deputy prefect and former owner of "Kamen Ingrad", Vlado Zec, was one of 200 concession holders who had been found to have illegally extracted mineral resources.
The Government has ordered all concession holders to obtain, within a year's time, mining permits and meet their obligations towards the state, Macek said.
"The State Inspectorate has established that in the period between 2000 and 2003, during the term of the former government which failed to take appropriate measures, queries, sand fields and water resources were illegally exploited," Macek said.
It has been established that Vlado Zec owes the state 34 million kuna (aprox. EUR4.6 million), Macek said.
Asked to comment on claims that the debt would not settled, Macek said the Government had insured itself against such a situation with promissory notes and that it would collect its claims.
Commenting on the HNS's claims that it would initiate procedure to establish if PM Sanader, Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) leader Anto Djapic and Zec, an HSP member, were in conflict of interest, Macek said the Government would provide arguments to prove that this was not true and that this was only an attempt to score cheap political points.
The Finance Ministry has made a register of all concessions in Croatia to prevent further illegal extraction of mineral resources, Macek said.
The chairman of the Parliament's Commission on Conflict of Interest, Josip Leko, said today that the Commission would discuss the case of Kamen Ingrad, but he would not say if it would initiate procedure to establish if state officials had favoured the company.
Asked to comment on Macek's claims that the former government too was responsible for this and other cases, Leko, a member of the Social Democrats, said the incumbent Government tended to blame others whenever it was caught involved in wrongdoings.