ZAGREB, April 6 (Hina) - A former Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa, on Thursday reiterated, before a parliamentary commission of inquiry, that he did not know who was the real owner of "Vecernji List", the daily which was sold while
Matesa held office of Croatian Premier. We in the government discussed the sale of Vecernji List, but I did not get the name of the purchaser, said Matesa, whom the Sabor's 13-member commission called to be first to testify about murky circumstance in which the majority package of shares of this daily with the greatest circulation had been sold during the Christmas and New Year holidays 1997/1998. Matesa said the then ministers Borislav Skegro and Milan Kovac, who were among those who decided on the sale, had informed him only that the price was a main criterion for the choice of possible purchasers. The former top official confirmed that the issue of Vecernji
ZAGREB, April 6 (Hina) - A former Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa, on
Thursday reiterated, before a parliamentary commission of inquiry,
that he did not know who was the real owner of "Vecernji List", the
daily which was sold while Matesa held office of Croatian Premier.
We in the government discussed the sale of Vecernji List, but I did
not get the name of the purchaser, said Matesa, whom the Sabor's 13-
member commission called to be first to testify about murky
circumstance in which the majority package of shares of this daily
with the greatest circulation had been sold during the Christmas
and New Year holidays 1997/1998.
Matesa said the then ministers Borislav Skegro and Milan Kovac, who
were among those who decided on the sale, had informed him only that
the price was a main criterion for the choice of possible
purchasers.
The former top official confirmed that the issue of Vecernji List's
sale was mentioned at a session of VONS (the Council of Defence and
National Security), chaired by the late President Franjo Tudjman,
but Matesa could not remember who raised the question.
An expert witness, lawyer Neven Cirkveni, on Thursday also spoke
about this matter before the commission.
Cirkveni maintains that clear indications should be found whether
the purchase of this daily was a case of money laundering. After
that it will be easier to find out the owner of Vecernji List, as
Croatian and international police and judiciary can be engaged in
the clarification of the problem.
In the world 600 billion US dollars are 'laundered' yearly, and
perhaps even three times more, the lawyer cited this data. He
advised that it should be checked whether all involved in that
financial transaction related to the sale of Vecernji List had
fulfilled their obligations.
He added that Splitska and Zagrebacka banks must know who issued
orders to banks from London and Frankfurt to pay money for the
purchase of Croatian newspaper.
The commission received a report of the office for prevention of
money laundering reading that it did not possess data about
financial transactions done through the Splitska and Zagrebacka
banks.
The funds of pension and disability insurance sold 53.61 percent of
shares of Vecernji List for less than 20 million German marks to
Caritas Fund Limited, registered on the Virgin Islands just several
days before the conclusion of the deal.
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