ZAGREB, Aug 28 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday requested the Ministry of War Veterans to submit a list with information on flats and loans granted to war veterans and the families of killed soldiers between 1998 and
2003.
ZAGREB, Aug 28 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday
requested the Ministry of War Veterans to submit a list with
information on flats and loans granted to war veterans and the
families of killed soldiers between 1998 and 2003. #L#
Prime Minister Ivica Racan said he would propose that the list be
published in the National Gazette.
"It is important for the government not to give in to pressures and
blackmail, which are aimed at preventing attempts to clear up some
issues. This government and its members have the duty to report on
how tax-payers' money is spent," PM Racan said.
War Veterans Minister Ivica Pancic told reporters after today's
government session that his family had received threat mail
yesterday.
Stating that he felt safe, the minister said he had given the letter
to the police, as he had done with all previous threat letters.
"The police tracked down the senders of two threat letters, but I
don't know how the cases ended," Pancic said.
He stated that there were people who did not want the list of granted
flats and loans to be published because the way they had been
included in it was questionable.
The Skender case was the last straw that has helped create an
atmosphere in which it will finally be possible to settle some
issues and all war veterans' associations have supported the
publishing of the list, Pancic said, adding that the ministry could
submit a full report in two weeks.
Along with information on flats granted by the war veterans
ministry, the list will also include information on some 1,000-
1,200 flats granted by the defence ministry.
The main problem is ascertaining if the status of a disabled war
veteran, from which all other rights (including the right to be
granted a flat) arise, was granted lawfully, Pancic said.
In early 2000, there were 32,500 disabled war veterans registered
with the ministry, and the figures today are slightly lower.
In status revisions carried out so far, some veterans lost their
status while others were granted it, Pancic said, warning that
those with less "resonant" names lost their status easier, while
the revision of veterans linked to different interest groups was
more difficult.
Ivan Skender, who was recently arrested in Austria with two
kilograms of cocaine, had been granted disabled war veteran status
in 1999 and given a flat in 2001.
Pancic says that several hundreds of cases need to be revised and
believes that after the Skender case revision will be accelerated.
(hina) rml