ZAGREB, June 5 (Hina) - An investigation launched by the State Prosecutor's Office in possible wrong-doing in the use of the money earmarked for Croatia's defence is "a political show of the incumbent authorities that are diverting
the public attention from the real problems to fabricated scandals," Ivic Pasalic, the head of the endowment of the Croatian state vow, was quoted by the Croatian Television's news programme late Tuesday night.
ZAGREB, June 5 (Hina) - An investigation launched by the State
Prosecutor's Office in possible wrong-doing in the use of the money
earmarked for Croatia's defence is "a political show of the
incumbent authorities that are diverting the public attention from
the real problems to fabricated scandals," Ivic Pasalic, the head
of the endowment of the Croatian state vow, was quoted by the
Croatian Television's news programme late Tuesday night. #L#
The Jutarnji List daily quoted Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic
as saying that the Office for the Fight Against Corruption and
Organised Crime (USKOK) together with police is launching an
investigation to establish whether there was any wrong-doing in the
use of funds which the Croatian Diaspora ensured and deposited in
foreign accounts for the defence of Croatia in the 1990s. The case
refers to some three million German marks deposited in an account in
Villach, Austria, until 1998 when the then high official Hrvoje
Sarinic transferred them to the account of the then ruling party
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)'s foundation called the endowment
of the Croatian state vow. Sarinic recently said he had transferred
the money to the foundation's account in Privredna Banka following
the order of former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman.
In March 2000, the police checked all the accounts and business
dealings of the endowment, including that transaction, and no
wrong-doing was established, or at least nobody informed us of
anything like that, Pasalic said in the news programme.
Pasalic added that he was surprised that "after more than two years
and after all responsible state bodies were notified of all the
details and no action was taken, all of sudden (they) are making a
big deal out of this." In Pasalic's opinion, it is a big political
circus directed by the current authorities.
If there is anything contentious, two years were enough to say what
was contentious and to examine it in regular procedure without any
spectacle, Pasalic said.
(hina) ms