PRESIDENT SURPRISED TRANSCRIPT IN ALLEGED BRIBERY CASE APPEARED IN DAILY

ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - The work of the judiciary, the police, the Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK), the prosecution and courts should be available to the public only after proceedings have been launched in a case and if there is a trial, President Stjepan Mesic said on Thursday.#L# He was commenting on a daily's publication of the transcript of a conversation between former foreign minister Mate Granic and businessman Velimir Delonga in the Koncar case, which saw Granic suspected of bribery. Mesic said he was surprised the transcript appeared in the press, and added the public should be informed about such things only when they came to trial. Before being processed, such things are only raw materials of concern only to institutions dealing with them, he said. The president spoke to reporters while visiting Rudjer Boskovic Institute. Asked to comment on USKOK's work, Mesic said he could not assess it now and that this was not up to him. The president added he could not estimate how successful USKOK would be in its appeal to the Supreme Court in connection with the Zagreb County Court's refusal to investigate Granic on bribery charges due to insufficient evidence. Mesic said he only wanted every institution to do its job autonomously and abide by the law. He also commented on the latest increase in oil products' prices and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's announcement that he would ask the oil company INA to settle the matter from reserves instead of by raising prices. "I think we have to have instruments with which we can regulate the market. Not much here can be done with agreements." As for Sanader's announcement, Mesic said such interventions could succeed in the short term but must not become a principle. The president added the price increase would primarily affect those with lower income. (Hina) ha