SABOR STARTS DEBATE ON PRIVATISATION AUDIT

ZAGREB, April 25 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament on Wednesday afternoon started a debate on a final bill on the audit of ownership transformation and privatisation, which regulates the auditing procedure and determines bodies in charge of initiating audits. The bill was presented to MPs by Economy Minister Goranko Fizulic. Under the bill, audits are carried out by the State Audit Office, an independent state body which did not participate in the privatisation process, whereas audit requests can be submitted by a broad circle of persons and institutions, including shareholders, shareholders' associations, unions, management and supervisory boards, pension and health insurance funds, the State Attorney's Office, the State Prosecutor's Office, the Government and the Croatian National Bank. Privatisation audits can be initiated in companies which are suspected of not operating in line with the law, or in case of privatisation fraud, e.g. when a company is sold at a price which is lower than its appraised value, etc. Audit requests should be submitted within six months after the law goes into force and all audits should be completed by January 2003 at the latest. Croatia's ruling coalition promised to adopt a law on privatisation audit before last year's parliamentary election. The debate on the bill has resumed with individual debates by representatives of party benches. (hina) sb rml