RACAN: WHY WAS IDENTITY OF 'VECERNJI LIST' OWNERS KEPT SECRET?

ZAGREB, April 17 (Hina) - If it is true that the car dealer 'Zubak' and Montmontaza GmbH Germany are the owners of "Vecernji list" daily, then why was their identity concealed, Prime Minister Ivica Racan told Sunday's issue of "Vecernji list" commenting on the information on the actual owners of the daily. Pavo Zubak, owner of the car dealer 'Zubak', and Ivica Nuic, representative of the German company Montmontaza GmbH, on Sunday stated that their companies were the majority owners of "Vecernji list", thus putting an end to speculations as to who owns the off- shore company Caritas Fund from the Virgin Islands. "Those names have for some time been circulating in cloakroom talk and if they are true, the question is why were they concealed," Racan said on Sunday evening. He added that he would have a more precise stand on the case after the information on the daily's owners was confirmed. The Croatian National Sabor formed an investigative commission whose task it was to establish the owners of the off-shore company which bought the highest circulation daily in Croatia. What caused MPs' suspicion was the fact that the Pension Fund sold the majority share in the daily in a hurry, during Christmas holidays in 1997, to a company whose owner was unknown. (hina) jn rml