MINISTER URGES FINANCE POLICE TO INSPECT PENSION FUND TRANSACTIONS

ZAGREB, Feb 25 (Hina) - Croatian Labour and Social Welfare Minister Davorko Vidovic on Friday told Hina he had issued an order for the finance police to investigate the transactions of the Croatian Pension Insurance Fund (HZMO), following findings of a state audit for 1998. Vidovic also announced a complete restructuring of HZMO's board given that the audit showed a series of irregularities in the management of portfolios. The intention of the Labour and Social Welfare Ministry is to make an integral auditing of everything that happened to the HZMO portfolio since 1992, he said. "I think the pension fund hides a whole series of activities subject to a serious investigation of legality, as well as a series of irregularities the audit did not even mention, but only due to the methodology of auditing," said the minister. The highest number of irregularities refers to the period before Dunja Vidosevic came to head the fund, he added. "There were numerous transactions, sales of which the public, and even some members of the board of directors, were not informed. All of the major scandals in Croatia related to sales of companies are in some way connected with the pension fund (...) I think things will have to start unravelling," said Vidovic. His ministry intends to turn towards the future and issues relevant to what awaits Croatia's pensioners and citizens tomorrow, he said, pointing out it cannot be done properly unless prosecutor's offices, courts, and police do their job. Vidovic did not want to say precisely whether Dunja Vidosevic would remain at the head of the HZMO, despite public speculation. He said she was a competent person who could do the job, and that it was a matter of debate whether she could have done more in the past environment. (hina) ha