ZAGREB, Jan 27(Hina) - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on Tuesday reiterated that he was going to ask for dismissal of Assistant Interior Minister Stipe Cacija at the next session of the government.
ZAGREB, Jan 27(Hina) - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on Tuesday reiterated
that he was going to ask for dismissal of Assistant Interior Minister
Stipe Cacija at the next session of the government.#L#
Answering questions of MPs during question time in parliament, PM
denied statements that Cacija was his bodyguard in the run-up to the
November election, saying that Cacija was the chief of the security
service of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) during the pre-election
campaign.
Cacija did his job excellently but this cannot serve as an excuse for
his other acts, or the treatment of his son, the PM said.
Sanader revealed that Cacija had been engaged after he and other HDZ
senior officials had received some threats before the election. Given
that we had been in the run-up to the election, we did not report
threats to the Interior Ministry nor did we let our nonprofessional
members to be in charge of the security. This had to be done in a
professional manner and that's why we engaged Cacija, Sanader told
Nenad Stazic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who asked about this
issue. According to media reports Cacija has refused for 18 years to
pay alimony for his illegitimate son despite a court ruling.
Sanader went on to say that he had appointed Cacija as Assistant
Interior Minister in charge of security and fight against terrorism on
the basis of his biographic elements referring to his professionalism
and the fact that he worked successfully in this sector for some 10
years.
Interior Minister Marijan Mlinaric refuted media allegations that the
Counter-Intelligence Agency (POA) would be returned within
jurisdiction of his ministry.
(Hina) ms sb