VUKOVAR, Sept 28 (Hina) - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Ivo Sanader has protested against a proposal by the Rijeka Municipal Prosecutor's Office to indict a former manager of the Rijeka-based shipping company "Croatia line"
and HDZ Presidency member, Dario Vukic.
VUKOVAR, Sept 28 (Hina) - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader
Ivo Sanader has protested against a proposal by the Rijeka
Municipal Prosecutor's Office to indict a former manager of the
Rijeka-based shipping company "Croatia line" and HDZ Presidency
member, Dario Vukic. #L#
The Rijeka Municipal Prosecutor's Office has proposed issuing an
indictment against Vukic because in 1998 he failed to declare the
company bankrupt although he was legally bound to do so.
Speaking about Vukic before a session of the party's National
Committee in Vukovar on Saturday, Sanader said that "Vukic did not
declare bankruptcy because the then Government of the Republic of
Croatia, headed by Zlatko Matesa, had told him that he could not
declare bankruptcy".
The HDZ leader also said that "in the past two years and nine months
the new authorities were able to hear on several occasions from the
leaders of the Croatian Privatisation Fund that they would not
declare companies bankrupt despite the existence of bankruptcy
conditions".
"In the summer of 2000 and 2001 the Croatian government called on
all managers of tourist companies in Croatia to put bankruptcy on
hold until the tourist season was over," Sanader said, adding that
the "government violated the law for the violation of which it is
now prosecuting Dario Vukic".
"Are there two kinds of justice in Croatia?" Sanader asked, adding
that his party would not defend anyone for political reasons, but it
wanted all to be equal before the law.
Sanader believes the indictment against Vukic is the start of the
electoral campaign of the Social Democratic Party, which in his
opinion would be based on "the criminalisation of the HDZ and the
political persecution of prominent party members".
(hina) rml