Speaking about the Commission's first report to the Parliament, Commission chairman Josip Leko said that 30 cases of suspected conflict of interest had been reported over the last year, that proceedings had been conducted in 16 cases to establish if there had been conflict of interest, and that five officials were found to have been in conflict of interest.
Leko noted that Croatia still lacked developed legal standards and rules of procedure for institutions dealing with conflict of interest. He added, however, that in its first year the Commission had done a lot to regulate this issue - internal regulations were adopted, rules of procedure and the dynamics of conducting cases were agreed, and members of the Commission harmonised their positions regarding conflict of interest.
He warned that the Conflict of Interest Act contained a number of issues that were not defined precisely, from the very term of conflict of interest to when and why an official is in conflict of interest.
Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic of the Social Democratic Party commended the Commission for its objective and unbiased approach. She urged more financial support for its work, notably for training purposes.
The chairman of the Committee on the Constitution and Rules of Procedure, Drazen Bosnjakovic of the Croatian Democratic Union, said the report was good and supported amendments to the Conflict of Interest Act.
Dragutin Lesar of the Croatian People's Party proposed that the Committee discuss by the end of the year all problems encountered by the Commission, as well as amendments to the Conflict of Interest Act. Committee chairman Bosnjakovic supported the proposal.