ZAGREB, Jan 25 (Hina) - Zlatko Tomcic, the president of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS), said on Saturday the party wanted the government to revoke a decision on selling the Suncani Hvar hotel company to Slovenia's Terme Catez,
annul the international tender, and return everything to the starting position.
ZAGREB, Jan 25 (Hina) - Zlatko Tomcic, the president of the Croatian
Peasants' Party (HSS), said on Saturday the party wanted the
government to revoke a decision on selling the Suncani Hvar hotel
company to Slovenia's Terme Catez, annul the international tender,
and return everything to the starting position. #L#
"The HSS will request clarifying completely Croatia's stand toward
the new Ljubljanska Bank and establishing if this bank is in Terme
Catez's ownership structure," Tomcic told Hina.
Those who have liabilities towards the Croatian state can in no way
participate in privatisation in the country, he stated.
He sees the culprit behind the decision to sell Suncani Hvar to the
Slovenes in the Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP), and holds
Tourism Minister Pave Zupan-Ruskovic indirectly responsible as
well.
For the time being Tomcic said he did not know if responsibility
would go even further, but announced the HSS, one of the ruling
coalition's five parties, would request determining liability and
replacing all who were guilty in the Suncani Hvar sale.
Expressing doubts regarding the privatisation process, a HSS
source said on condition of anonymity that papers on the sale
indicate Terme Catez is willing to invest some EUR14 million in the
hotels while another Slovene company, Kompas, offered 50 million.
Moreover, Terme Catez also plans to invest EUR31 million to build
two new marinas, something that was not even offered in the tender,
said the source.
Despite protestations from the HSS ministers and a deputy premier,
the Croatian government on Thursday decided to sell 62.3 percent of
shares in Suncani Hvar to Terme Catez for about EUR44 million. The
Slovene company would make a down payment of 9.9 million, with the
rest to be invested over the next five years.
In negotiations with the Slovenes, the government bound the HFP to
secure all guarantees required for investments envisaged and to
clear anything that might be contentious given Terme Catez's
credibility.
Commenting on Tomcic's statement, the tourism minister said today
she did not know what all the ballyhoo, fear and panic was about when
a contract had not been signed yet.
The final decision depends on the sale contract which has yet to be
drawn up and proposed to the government, which either accepts it or
not, Zupan-Ruskovic told Hina.
She said it was not correct that the Kompas offer was better than
that of Terme Catez.
Asked about the EUR31 million offer for two marinas, the minister
said the building of marinas depended on the decision of Hvar's town
authorities.
(hina) ha sb