LJUBLJANA, Jan 10 (Hina) - A former head of the Slovene negotiating team for succession to the former Yugoslavia has dismissed claims that the team did not know about the legislation regulating the area of finances which Croatia had
taken over from the former federation upon the declaration of its independence, which also refers to the clients of Ljubljanska Banka.
LJUBLJANA, Jan 10 (Hina) - A former head of the Slovene negotiating
team for succession to the former Yugoslavia has dismissed claims
that the team did not know about the legislation regulating the area
of finances which Croatia had taken over from the former federation
upon the declaration of its independence, which also refers to the
clients of Ljubljanska Banka. #L#
"We had known about the existence of the law under which Croatia
took over federal financial regulations," Miran Mejak told the
Slovene business paper "Finance".
Mejak declined to comment on how statements by his successor Rudolf
Gabrovec that by taking over the federal legislation Croatia had
recognised the "territorial principle" in the payment of the
savings deposits of the clients of Ljubljanska Banka Zagreb would
affect negotiations on the obligations of the former Ljubljanska
Bank towards its clients in Croatia.
Mejak had headed the Slovene succession team until the beginning of
last year, when he was succeeded by Rudolf Gabrovec, a former head
of former Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek's cabinet and a long-time
representative of the Ljubljanska Bank's office in New York.
Mejak's statement indirectly brings into question the weight of the
"discovery" of Croatian regulations from 1991 in proving the theory
that Croatia must return the clients of Ljubljanska Banka their
savings, because Croatia reportedly accepted the "territorial
principle" in the payment of savings deposits.
Quoting Gabrovec the Slovene media reported that "in the night when
(Croatia's) independence was declared and the day after" the
Croatian parliament integrated into Croatia's legal system "42
Yugoslav financial regulations", as well as that the then president
Franjo Tudjman signed "a decree declaring a law on the application
of federal laws regulating the area of finances". This, the Slovene
media claim, backs the opinion of Slovene legal experts that the
clients of Ljubljanska Banka from Croatia have been sending their
requests for the return of their savings deposits to the wrong
address for the past 11 years. The media, however, do not state
which law these claims refer to.
Gabrovec states that the discovery of the documents is particularly
important with regard to the importance the Vienna agreement on
succession of 2001 attached to the dates when former Yugoslav
states took over from the former federation guarantees for savings
deposits.
(hina) rml