ZAGREB, April 9 (Hina) - The Croatian Defence Ministry (MORH) on Tuesday rejected a statement made by War Veterans' Minister Ivica Pancic on Monday that 80 percent of Croatian Armed Forces (HV) officers gained status as war invalids
following road accidents. The Defence Ministry considers these claims as "absolutely incorrect".
ZAGREB, April 9 (Hina) - The Croatian Defence Ministry (MORH) on
Tuesday rejected a statement made by War Veterans' Minister Ivica
Pancic on Monday that 80 percent of Croatian Armed Forces (HV)
officers gained status as war invalids following road accidents.
The Defence Ministry considers these claims as "absolutely
incorrect".#L#
"There are currently 1362 officers in the armed forces with war
invalid status of whom 132 or 9.6 percent became invalids as a
result of road accidents", a press release from the Defence
Ministry says.
The release continues, that following directives issued by Defence
Minister Jozo Rados a check was conducted on the basis of which
invalidity was assigned to 185 of the highest ranking officers in
the armed forces. "It was ascertained that 13 or 7.02 percent of
invalids gained their status in disputable circumstances or with
falsified medical documentation. In 81 cases or 43.8 per cent it was
ascertained that some of the documents submitted were disputable
while 91 officers of 49.2 percent were given invalidity without any
cause for dispute", the Ministry's statement, signed by the head of
the Public Relations Office for MORH, Dusan Viro, says.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Veterans' Minister Ivica
Pancic stated that he knew that "more than 80 percent of Croatian
Army officers gained status as war invalids as a result of traffic
accidents or some other odd way".
(hina) it sb