Plevnik and Tudic on 7 August sent a letter with similar contents to the federation of the European people's parties so as "to internationalise the Karlovac corruption scandal", Plevnik told a news conference in this city 50 kilometres south of Zagreb on Tuesday.
In this context she recalled that the Karlovac branch of the HDZ party bound itself to pay 20,000 kuna monthly on the account of the HSU party in Karlovac, and that the HSU town committee also criticised this deal as illegal given that Franjo Capan was not authorised to sign the agreement on behalf of that party and given that the agreement's provision regulating the payment of the said fund was contrary to the law on financing political parties.
Under the controversial agreement, the HSU would monthly receive 20,000 kuna, and in return it should help the HDZ to ensure a majority in the town's assembly which would thus become a ruling party in Karlovac.
Plevnik also pointed the finger at the HDZ for failing to distance itself from the agreement. Instead, it (HDZ) called this move as an act of "civic courage".
Plevnik went on to say that the current Croatian Economy Minister Branko Vukelic had led the negotiations which resulted in the agreement and accused him of not taking care of either the Croatian economy or of over 6,000 unemployed Karlovac citizens but that he wanted to "manipulate funds from the city's budget and steal seats won by the list headed by Dario Jankovic of the SDP".
Although almost three months have passed since the May 15 local elections, Karlovac has not yet established the local government.