RIJECKA BANK CASE ENDS FOR CENTRAL BANK

ZAGREB, Jan 16 (Hina) - The Croatian National Bank (HNB) on Thursday completed and forwarded to the state prosecutor and court in Rijeka a report on the reconstruction of transactions in Rijecka Banka from 1998 to March 2000. During this period, some 97.3 million US dollars were embezzled. This marks the end of the case for the HNB. #L# The central bank completed its job successfully, it reconstructed what happened and how, how risky foreign currency transactions were conducted, and how losses were covered up in business records, HNB governor Zeljko Rohatinski told reporters. He stressed the HNB would continue to cooperate with organs of the judiciary. The losses in Rijecka Banka were the result of foreign currency transactions out of speculative reasons, says the report. Central bank inspectors analysed more than 48,000 business records. They established that a total of 16,773 FC arbitrations were conducted, of which 8,739 were unreported. The overall amount of all FC transactions in Rijecka Banka in the period in question amounted to more than 114 billion dollars, of which 73.6 billion went unregistered. The bank's inadequate organisation and lack of control mechanisms significantly benefited the cover-up of losses in FC transactions for several years. Who knew abut the transactions or should have known based on their duties and authorities in Rijecka Banka will be established during an investigation which is not in the HNB's jurisdiction, it was said. (hina) lml