SANADER EXPECTS CACIJA TO RESIGN IF LATEST MEDIA REPORTS PROVE TRUE

ZAGREB, Jan 25(Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Sunday he expected Assistant Interior Minister Stipe Cacija to resign if the latest media reports about him proved true. Sanja Jadrijevic from Sinj accused Cacija in Saturday's issue of Slobodna Dalmacija daily of refusing to recognise and pay alimony for their 18-year-old son who was born out of wedlock, but who a court established was Cacija's son. #L# "If Mrs. Jadrijevic's claims prove true, I expect Cacija to resign, and since new elements in this case keep coming up every day, I will talk to him first," Sanader said when asked about the Cacija case at the opening of an exhibition in the Jewish Community offices in Zagreb. Sanader said he would talk to Cacija today. The government's public relations office said in a statement later in the day that Cacija had made his mandate available. Explaining his decision in a letter, Cacija said the reason for his making his mandate available was an article in Slobodna Dalmacija of January 24 in which he was accused of not paying alimony for his son who the daily said lived in destitute conditions. Cacija said he was making his mandate available until the allegations were investigated. (Hina) rml