"I don't believe the report which says that I wasn't the reason for the POA's monitoring (of some individuals). These are old excuses," Mesic said in response to the question from the press if he believed Sanader who said that the POA's operation was not directed against the president of the republic.
"Sanader was given an information and a report to that effect, but I don't believe the report. Those are old excuses," he told the press after the marking of the 13th anniversary of the Croatian Air Force and Air Defence.
He declined to comment on media allegations that the name of the new POA chief had already been agreed on, saying that was speculation and that he would give his proposal to the PM.
Mesic said he talked about cases of alleged sexual abuse in the military and an order that the allegations be investigated with Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic and military chief of staff General Josip Lucic. He added each would do his part of the job.
"I declare there were no cases of rape," Roncevic said, adding there had been "no cover-ups" either.
Asked to comment on Lucic's proposal to declassify documents relating to the alleged abuses, the minister said the military was one institution and that all decisions were made jointly.
He said a very ugly picture was being painted without arguments, and reiterated his appeal to all in possession of any information, proof or argument to report to the Defence Ministry.
"We aren't ruling out the possibility of something like that having happened because there are more than 20,000 people in the system. If such cases do exist, we are willing to investigate them all and inform the public."
Asked if he would resign if the sexual abuse allegations proved true, Roncevic said he felt responsible to investigate the media allegations but added he did not feel responsible for events which occurred before he came into office.
He said an incident occurred among Croatian military police in the ISAF mission to Afghanistan and that it was being processed.
Asked about the incident, the minister said it followed a disagreement about the use of bathroom facilities. He added the incident occurred in the penultimate month of the six-month mission, when tensions came to the surface, which was why the reduction of the mission to three months was being considered.
Roncevic said that if discipline policy was violated it should be punished.
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