ZAGREB, April 18 (Hina) - Josko Kontic, the head of a parliamentary commission of inquiry for the case of Vecernji List's purchase, on Monday evening declined to comment on Croatian President Stjepan Mesic's statement that the sale of
this Croatian daily was a notorious swindle in which some top officials from the former authorities had been implicated. "You will be informed about everything tomorrow when I arrive in Zagreb, Kontic told Hina on the phone on Monday evening. I suppose that the President of the Republic is a man who possesses completely checked information, said Djurdja Adlesic, a member of the parliamentary commission recently set up to clarify murky conditions in which the Croatian daily with the highest circulation had been sold during the Christmas and New Year holidays 1997/1998. One of tasks of the commission is to establish who is the owner of Vecernji List. Asked whe
ZAGREB, April 18 (Hina) - Josko Kontic, the head of a parliamentary
commission of inquiry for the case of Vecernji List's purchase, on
Monday evening declined to comment on Croatian President Stjepan
Mesic's statement that the sale of this Croatian daily was a
notorious swindle in which some top officials from the former
authorities had been implicated.
"You will be informed about everything tomorrow when I arrive in
Zagreb, Kontic told Hina on the phone on Monday evening.
I suppose that the President of the Republic is a man who possesses
completely checked information, said Djurdja Adlesic, a member of
the parliamentary commission recently set up to clarify murky
conditions in which the Croatian daily with the highest circulation
had been sold during the Christmas and New Year holidays 1997/1998.
One of tasks of the commission is to establish who is the owner of
Vecernji List.
Asked whether it is possible that the President knows of something
of which the commission has no knowledge, Adlesic replied: "We have
not said that we do not know."
During her telephone conversation with Hina, Adlesic said she
congratulated Kontic on leading a parliamentary commission that
was the first in the last ten years to be working successfully.
"We shall do our job much before the time term," Adlesic added.
The commission, constituted one month ago, should submit a report
(to the Sabor) on the findings of its probe in three months.
Its duty is to establish who stands behind Caritas Fund Limited,
which bought Vecernji List two years ago and why the Pension
Insurance Fund had sold hastily profitable shares of this daily to
the Caritas Fund Limited, an organisation registered on the Virgin
Islands just several days before the deal was concluded.
Sunday's issue of "Vecernji List" published the lead story in which
Pavo Zubak, the owner of "Autokuca Zubak" (dealer of cars) and Ivica
Nuic, a representative of the German firm called "Montmontaza
GmbH", disclosed that they were majority owners of that daily. They
claimed that the whole transaction had been carried out properly.
(hina) jn ms