FIRST DEPUTY PM CRITICISES PM OVER TRANSCRIPTS SENT TO TRIBUNAL

ZAGREB, July 2 (Hina) - Croatia's First Deputy Prime Minister Drazen Budisa described as irresponsible and improper Prime Minister Ivica Racan's move of disclosing the contents of two transcripts the government had forwarded to the UN war crimes tribunal. The transcripts mentioned Budisa's name. #L# I regard this move as unfair, Racan has no authority to make public the contents of transcripts, in particular without the consent of persons to whom they refer, Budisa said at a news conference on Tuesday. He dismissed claims that he had been acquainted with the contents of the transcripts a month ago. It is a blatant lie about me and my work, he added. He reiterated that he had been informed of the transcripts 45 minutes before a session at which the government decided, without votes of the HSLS (Budisa's Social Liberal) ministers, to remove the label "secret" from the papers. Budisa said he could not vote in favour of the legal production of the transcripts to the Hague-based tribunal, when they had already been sent illegally. He said he could not vote given that the Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte reiterated in her letter, in which she asked for the transcripts, that on 4 August 1995, Croatia's Army launched a military action against the self-proclaimed Republic of Serb Krajina. Earlier on Tuesday, Premier Racan said the Tribunal had sent a request for the production of a certain number of transcripts of the talks which the former President Franjo Tudjman had led. The Tribunal asked the papers for an investigation. The list of wanted transcripts contained two transcripts from meetings between Tudjman, Budisa and some other politicians. Racan said members "of the then opposition have nothing to be ashamed of". (hina) ms sb