ZAGREB, April 8 (Hina) - Simon Rodgers, the Caritas Fund director and a member of the supervisory board of the Croatian daily "Vecernji List" on Friday night told the Croatian television news programme "Motrista" that it was not true
that this Croatian daily had been bought with laundered money. Rodgers claimed that the purchase of this Zagreb-based daily had proceeded in a completely legal manner. When Caritas Fund bought shares of 'Vecernji List' I met with the Croatian committee for transaction with securities. We established with the committee a legal procedure for foreign companies to invest in the Croatian firm. We followed the procedure. The final part of the deal took place in offices of the Pension Insurance Fund. Present were two lawyers and two public notaries. None of them said at any moment that there were irregularities, Rodgers said. He did not want to reveal nam
ZAGREB, April 8 (Hina) - Simon Rodgers, the Caritas Fund director
and a member of the supervisory board of the Croatian daily
"Vecernji List" on Friday night told the Croatian television news
programme "Motrista" that it was not true that this Croatian daily
had been bought with laundered money.
Rodgers claimed that the purchase of this Zagreb-based daily had
proceeded in a completely legal manner.
When Caritas Fund bought shares of 'Vecernji List' I met with the
Croatian committee for transaction with securities. We established
with the committee a legal procedure for foreign companies to
invest in the Croatian firm. We followed the procedure. The final
part of the deal took place in offices of the Pension Insurance
Fund. Present were two lawyers and two public notaries. None of them
said at any moment that there were irregularities, Rodgers said.
He did not want to reveal names of purchasers of 'Vecernji List' but
asserted it was not bought with laundered money.
Of course, I had information about sources of money but I am not
willing to talk about who are investors and where the money arrived
from. Investors insist on that confidentiality and I owe it them. I
can tell you that all means invested in Caritas Fund have come from a
great series of investors. All the money has come from
organisations, firms or banks in countries known for following
financial transactions and for having established procedures
against money laundering, he claimed.
The Croatian National Sabor has recently constituted a 13-member
commission of inquiry to clarify 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.
It is still not known who is the real owner of 'Vecernji List'.
An expert witness, lawyer Neven Cirkveni, on Thursday 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.
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.
(hina) ms