Foreign Minister Zuzul is in no conflict of interest, and the government did not favour anybody but the workers, Sanader said.
According to an article published on the 'Index Portal' independent web site, Zuzul's wife sold 50 percent of shares in her company MTS to a company owned by Ivan Karin at the price of 500,000 kuna (some 66,700 euros). That company, Karin Universal, bought, at the seventh invitation of bids, the Imotstroj company, which previously went into receivership, at the price of 6.5 million kuna. On 2 September, the government wrote off the debt, worth 6.2 million kuna, of the company based in the southern town of Imotski in order to settle workers' claims.
"The Karin Universal company has not paid any sum of money into the my wife's, her firm's or my account, and there was no transaction. Bribery is out of the question," Zuzul said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The minister said that his wife, who was the only owner of the MTS company, had decided at the beginning of this year to discontinue the company's business activity and sell a part of the shares so as to be able to service credits and other financial obligations. The stock capital (equity) of her firm is 20,000 kuna.
The sales agreement between Mrs. Zuzul and the Karin Unversal company was signed on 1 February and should have been carried out over the coming six months, i.e. until 1 August, but the deal was not implemented.
According to the minister, Mr. Karin informed the Zuzuls that he was giving up the agreement and that it had become null and void. Nothing was paid, Zuzul energetically asserted at the news conference.
Commenting on the government's decision to write off a part of Imotstroj's debt, Zuzul said the decision was made in the interest of 168 workers who would thus be able to receive their salaries in arrears.