HIGH REPRESENTATIVE TO SELL BANK HERZEGOVINA

MOSTAR, Dec 23 (Hina) - The international community's High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Paddy Ashdown, on Monday decided to sell Herzegovacka Bank following an audit that lasted almost two years. #L# The High Representative ordered that the temporary administrator of Herzegovacka Bank, Toby Robinson, should sell the bank and to use the funds from the sale in favour of savers and the local economy, a press release from the High Representative's Office said. Ashdown rejected any other alternative such as liquidation or returning the bank to its original owners considering this to be the worst possible solution. He also rejected any additional capital to be poured in as this would mean that the bank would be given back to those who administered the bank badly in the first place in an effort to realise their own personal aims. The press release continued that this option was not acceptable because of the wrongdoings documented in a recent report by Robinson. In her final report, Robinson stated that about 820 million kuna (110 million euros) that the Republic of Croatia earmarked for members of the Croatian National Defence Council (HVO) and Croatian associations representing war victims were embezzled. In explanation of his decision, Ashdown noted that prior to making his decision he kept in mind the interest of small savers, the economy and the law. Prior to the SFOR raiding the bank on April 6 last year, the Privredna Bank Zagreb showed most interest to possibly purchase Herzegovacka Bank. During the mandate of Wolfgang Petritsch as the High Representative, the media speculated that an Austrian bank could possibly purchase the Bosnian bank. Spokesman for Herzegovacka Bank Johan Verheyden said in a statement for the press that administrator Toby Robinson had not contacted any foreign bank about the possible sale of Bank Herzegovina. (hina) sp it