ZAGREB, May 24 (Hina) - The government began an electoral campaign by which the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is to be marked as an organisation of a criminal regime which between 1990 and 2002 allegedly planned criminal
privatisation of companies, which the last parliament rendered legitimate, the president of MPs of the HDZ, Vladimir Seks, said on Friday. At a news conference in parliament, HDZ MPs Vladimir Seks, Milan Kovac and Jadranka Kosor commented on recent statements by the prime minister and government members about the finding of the State Audit Office on privatisation in the past ten years. The HDZ believes an unprecedented media lynch is being carried out against the party, and people are beginning to believe that one must only wait and see somebody from the HDZ behind bars. Seks warned about Thursday's request by the prime minister to have provisions introduced into the Penal Law which would make
ZAGREB, May 24 (Hina) - The government began an electoral campaign
by which the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is to be marked as an
organisation of a criminal regime which between 1990 and 2002
allegedly planned criminal privatisation of companies, which the
last parliament rendered legitimate, the president of MPs of the
HDZ, Vladimir Seks, said on Friday.
At a news conference in parliament, HDZ MPs Vladimir Seks, Milan
Kovac and Jadranka Kosor commented on recent statements by the
prime minister and government members about the finding of the
State Audit Office on privatisation in the past ten years.
The HDZ believes an unprecedented media lynch is being carried out
against the party, and people are beginning to believe that one must
only wait and see somebody from the HDZ behind bars.
Seks warned about Thursday's request by the prime minister to have
provisions introduced into the Penal Law which would make possible
the sanctioning of alleged criminal acts in privatisation.
"The government is thus committing the judiciary to judge something
that was allegedly done, but was not envisaged as a criminal act.
This is impermissible in legal practice and is contrary to every
document, from the UN to the Council of Europe," Seks said.
He said Premier Ivica Racan "forgot in what times he lives in".
Seks stressed that the government, "in the manner of the
(communist) Central Committee" was issuing orders to the State
Audit Office, the parliamentary committee and the State
Prosecution's Office regarding the alleged criminal
privatisation.
Milan Kovac, a former director of the Croatian Privatisation Fund,
said that the government was accusing the HDZ of providing a law to
make robbing the economy legal, while at the same time, the
government had not changed the law in the past 2.5 years, but was
working in line with it and bending it.
The HDZ party bench announced it would on Monday formally submit a
request for the establishment of a commission of enquiry to query
the legitimacy of passing transcripts from President Stjepan
Mesic's office to the international war crimes tribunal in The
Hague.
Seks explained that transcripts marked "state secret -- strictly
confidential" had been presented to Milan Kovac, a witness for the
defence in the process against Mladen Naletilic and Vinko
Martinovic.
(hina) lml