ZAGREB, May 25 (Hina) - Ivic Pasalic, a formerly influential adviser to late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, on Thursday reiterated the published transcripts of his talks with Tudjman on the purchase of Vecernji List daily for the
formerly ruling Croatian Democratic Union were a forgery. Pasalic today testified before a commission of inquiry probing the sale of Vecernji List, Croatia's largest circulation daily. The pension fund sold a majority package of the daily's shares in late December 1997 to an anonymously-owned company registered on the Virgin Islands shortly after the sale. According to Pasalic, computer technology enables easy meddling with the contents of real or alleged documents. This is something which has very probably been recently taking place in the Office of the President of the Republic, he asserted. By refusing to disclose the source who told him that numerous transc
ZAGREB, May 25 (Hina) - Ivic Pasalic, a formerly influential
adviser to late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, on Thursday
reiterated the published transcripts of his talks with Tudjman on
the purchase of Vecernji List daily for the formerly ruling
Croatian Democratic Union were a forgery.
Pasalic today testified before a commission of inquiry probing the
sale of Vecernji List, Croatia's largest circulation daily. The
pension fund sold a majority package of the daily's shares in late
December 1997 to an anonymously-owned company registered on the
Virgin Islands shortly after the sale.
According to Pasalic, computer technology enables easy meddling
with the contents of real or alleged documents. This is something
which has very probably been recently taking place in the Office of
the President of the Republic, he asserted.
By refusing to disclose the source who told him that numerous
transcripts of talks the late Tudjman held with his associates were
being written out at the President's Office, Pasalic is breaking
the law.
"Unfortunately, I cannot name those sources," he said, even though
commission of inquiry chairman Josko Kontic repeatedly warned him
that this was his obligation under the law.
A law on parliamentary commissions of inquiry stipulates fines
ranging from 50,000 to one million kuna, or imprisonment between
six months and five years for persons who fail to notify the
commission about facts these persons are familiar with.
The commission will decide on what to do in Pasalic's case after
consulting legal experts, Kontic told the press.
Pasalic asserted his talks with Tudjman were not taped, and that the
"investigation" into the Vecernji List was actually a political
show-down.
Late President Tudjman's close associates Vesna Skare-Ozbolt,
Gordan Radin, and Neven Madey today also testified before the
commission of inquiry. They confirmed the authenticity of a
published transcript of a conversation they had with Tudjman in
late 1998 on the conclusion of the Croatian mandate of the United
Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia.
(hina) ha jn