"(Former Prime Minister) Ivica Racan was not economically trained enough. I think the decision on receivership was politically motivated," Vrhovnik told the parliamentary commission investigating the case.
Vrhovnik said he never tried to get away from the blame, but noted that it seemed to him he was "not the only or chief culprit" for the shipyard's collapse.
He insisted that it was not true that his friendship with Racan had broken over Lenac, adding that it started to break after the victory of Racan's Social Democratic Party (SDP) at the parliamentary election in early 2000 when he refused the post of minister of maritime affairs thinking that he would be more useful in Lenac.
Vrhovnik said it was not true that he used his friendship with Racan to exert pressure on him to help Lenac without regard for the law. He added that Lenac had never financially supported the SDP and that he had helped the party with his own money out of political conviction rather than for personal gain.
Vrhovnik said that he had never been a majority owner of the shipyard and that after 2000 he never had more than seven per cent of shares in it.
The commission is due to close the inquiry by April 1.