The government this morning considered reports on the case of the bankrupt Imostroj company, compiled by the Chief Public Prosecutor and the State Auditor's Office. According to their findings, there were no unlawful elements in the bankruptcy procedure launched for the company from the southern town of Imotski and there is no document incriminating Minister Zuzul, Deputy Prime Minister Andrija Hebrang told reporters in the parliament building.
The government is absolutely confident that there is no concrete evidence incriminating Zuzul, who was not in conflict of interest, Hebrang said.
Hebrang believes that the latest campaign, launched against Zuzul by some media and opposition parties, was politically motivated and had no footing in the law.
Hebrang believes that the Sabor might consider a no-confidence motion, proposed by the opposition SDP, HSS and HNS, in a few days' time.
The Deputy PM said the Ivo Sanader cabinet was not considering at the moment any possibility of replacing the no-confidence motion against Zuzul with a debate on confidence in the entire government.
According to a statement on the Zuzul case which the government sent to the Sabor Speaker today, the Sanader cabinet does not believe that there are any reasons for opening the issue of confidence in Minister Zuzul and it therefore proposes to the parliament to turn down the motion.
Recalling its decision of September to write off the debts of the ailing Imostroj company, the government said that Zuzul was not and could not be in conflict of interest and that he had not violated any provision of the Law on Conflict of Interest.
The government wrote that it based these conclusions on a number of facts.
The Sanader cabinet says that the entire scandal involving the Imostroj company, the Karin Univerzal Inzenjering, and the company owned by Minister Zuzul's wife was based on an incorrect assertion that Karin Univerzal bought Imostroj and that the new owner benefited from the government's decision to write off a part of Imostroj's debt.
Writing off the debt from the bankruptcy mass helped only the company's 168 employees to obtain salaries which they had not received for three years, the government said adding that the bankruptcy procedure and the sale of Imostroj's property was carried out by the Commercial Court in Split with which the government did not and could not have any connection.
The social sensitivity towards former Imostroj workers whose existence was threatened was the main reason for the government to decide to write off the debt, the government said.
The government went on to say that arguments of the opposition parties which insist on Zuzul's dismissal were incorrect and superficial which was why there was no reason for the parliament to add the no-confidence motion against Zuzul to its agenda,
The motion was proposed by the Social Democrats (SDP), the People's Party (HNS) and the Peasant Party (HSS).
At the beginning of this month, the public prosecution launched a probe into the regularity of the bankruptcy procedure of the Imostroj company, following media reports accusing Minister Zuzul of being in conflict of interest. The minister himself also wanted the prosecutors to investigate the case.
Earlier this month the media reported that the minister's wife Tatjana Zuzul, the owner of the MTS company, concluded a sales contract with the owner of Karin Univerzal Inzenjering, Ivan Karin. The media connected this business deal with the government's decision on the debt write-off for Imotstroj and with the fact that Karin's Univerzal bought the property of that company.
Following the media reports, the opposition insisted on Zuzul's dismissal as he was believed to be in conflict of interest and also to be involved in corruption scandals in some other business transactions.
Zuzul resolutely refuted the allegations on his involvement in the reported scandals in a statement to the media and a letter to the government. Zuzul and his wife have sued some media over the allegations.