ZAGREB, March 22 (Hina) - The Croatian National Sabor's House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill in line with which an investigation commission on circumstances of the sale of Croatian daily "Vecernji List" was
to be established. The commission, which will have 13 members, will be constituted this week. Formal owner of "Vecernji List" is Caritas Fund from Virgin Islands, and its manager is Connor Clark Trustees. The commission should determine who is standing behind the formal owner, as well as the reasons why the Penison Fund sold the majority package of stocks of Croatia's daily with the greatest circulation in the first place and in such a short period, namely during Christmas and new Year holidays 1997/1998. During a discussion on the bill, Milan Kovac of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) said he did not oppose the establishment of the commiss
ZAGREB, March 22 (Hina) - The Croatian National Sabor's House of
Representatives on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill in line with
which an investigation commission on circumstances of the sale of
Croatian daily "Vecernji List" was to be established.
The commission, which will have 13 members, will be constituted
this week.
Formal owner of "Vecernji List" is Caritas Fund from Virgin
Islands, and its manager is Connor Clark Trustees. The commission
should determine who is standing behind the formal owner, as well as
the reasons why the Penison Fund sold the majority package of stocks
of Croatia's daily with the greatest circulation in the first place
and in such a short period, namely during Christmas and new Year
holidays 1997/1998.
During a discussion on the bill, Milan Kovac of the Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) said he did not oppose the establishment of
the commission, however, he stressed that the establishment of the
commission was the vilification and criminalisation of everything
that was going on in the past ten years on Croatia.
Kovac believes that by the opening of the issue on the owner of
"Vecernji List", the current Government tries to divert public's
attention from more significant problems, such as that "ill people
on the death bed are kidnapped from Zagreb and taken to The Hague".
Ingrid Anticevic-Marinovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)
said that Mladen Naletilic Tuta was not kidnapped, but was legally
extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Motioner of the establishment of the commission Josko Kontic of the
Croatian Social Liberal party (HSLS) said it was a fact that the
truth on the sale of "Vecernji List" was not known. If it was known,
maybe several state institutions should intervene and maybe it
would be proven that everything was legal, he added.
Drago Krpina of the HDZ also believes that the owner of "Vecernji
List should be revealed, because the mystification of the case only
caused damage to the HDZ. He said that there was probably someone in
Croatia who knew all the facts on the sale of the daily, and called
them to go public with it, which would save money and time.
Sabor's committees said there were no legal obstacles to the
establishment of the commission. Anticevic-Marinovic said that a
commission could be found for each question of public interest.
The commission would also determine whether a contractual
recapitalisation worth DM20 million has been made.
(hina) it jn