ZAGREB, April 20 (Hina) - Croatia's government on Thursday formed a coordination to fight economic crimes which will be headed by Deputy Premier Slavko Linic. The government forwarded to parliament a bill of amendments to the
Reconstruction Law which should rescind former discriminatory provisions. The coordination which will fight economic crimes is a working government body which will take measures to more effectively fight economic crimes on the basis of reports to be submitted by competent bodies of state administration. The coordination has 11 members, among whom are representatives of the Interior Ministry and the Croatian Privatisation Fund, the State Attorney, managers of the finance police, the tax and the customs administration, and the Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering. The bill of amendments to the Reconstruction Law refers to all buildings demolished or damaged through 15 Jan
ZAGREB, April 20 (Hina) - Croatia's government on Thursday formed a
coordination to fight economic crimes which will be headed by
Deputy Premier Slavko Linic.
The government forwarded to parliament a bill of amendments to the
Reconstruction Law which should rescind former discriminatory
provisions.
The coordination which will fight economic crimes is a working
government body which will take measures to more effectively fight
economic crimes on the basis of reports to be submitted by competent
bodies of state administration.
The coordination has 11 members, among whom are representatives of
the Interior Ministry and the Croatian Privatisation Fund, the
State Attorney, managers of the finance police, the tax and the
customs administration, and the Office for the Prevention of Money
Laundering.
The bill of amendments to the Reconstruction Law refers to all
buildings demolished or damaged through 15 January 1998, namely the
completion of the peaceful reintegration of the Danube River Region
in eastern Croatia, and equates all owners of property damaged or
demolished in last decade's war, regardless of when owners return
or the place they stayed in as refugees.
Adjusting the Reconstruction Law with the General Amnesty Law will
deny the right to reconstruction only to persons who were finally
sentenced for crimes from Article Three of the General Amnesty Law,
namely the perpetrators of the most serious violations of
humanitarian law which have the character of war crimes.
Due to the state's limited material possibilities, the exercising
of right to reconstruction will go on for years, said Deputy Premier
Zeljka Antunovic.
We are doing everything to additionally finance reconstruction,
she said. The obstacles hampering the exercising of the right to
reconstruction in a shorter time are not political, but material.
Public Works and Reconstruction Minister Radimir Cacic hopes
Croatia will not buy foreign approval in the future by spending
taxpayers' money on contracts secured without bids for tenders, but
build its reputation through laws like the one on reconstruction
which, he said, treat all citizens equally.
During today's government session, Premier Ivica Racan commented
on Veterans' Minister Ivica Pancic's visit to Gospic, where local
residents and veterans protested the possibility that Croatian
veterans be tried before the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Racan said it was good Pancic was in Gospic yesterday, but that it
was not good that he was not allowed to speak.
The premier reiterated his government defended and would defend the
dignity of Croatia's Homeland War, even by punishing those who
committed crime.
The government today rejected a bill on Croatian Radio-Television
(HRT) motioned by Jadranka Kosor of the Croatian Democratic Union.
It was said a government working group was close to completing a new
HRT law.
(hina) ha jn