SELLING OF 'NAMA' STORES STAYED FOR THE TIME BEING - OFFICIAL

ZAGREB, May 3 (Hina) - Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ) has stayed the sale of ten NAMA stores due to the collection of outstanding debts, but NAMA employees will not end a hunger strike begun last Tuesday. Nine NAMA trade unionists demand that the PBZ accept a financial restructuring programme and the rescheduling of NAMA's DM60 million debt. The nine were joined on Monday by another nine NAMA employees from Bjelovar and Sisak. The strikers were informed about the decision on the stay of the stores' sale by NAMA head of administration Josko Zavoreo, after a meeting representatives of NAMA, the PBZ, and NAMA's majority owners - the Velebit and Expandia privatisation-investment funds - held with Croatian Premier Zlatko Matesa. Representatives of NAMA and the two funds will meet Economy Minister Nenad Porges on Friday. Until then, the search will go on for a strategic investor into the only remaining store-chain in Croatia, Zavoreo told the strikers who arrived in front of the PBZ building tied in chains. No one has the right to sell NAMA property, whose worth greatly exceeds the debt, and thus damage 68,000 Homeland War soldiers who became the majority owners of NAMA via voucher privatisation. The privatisation-investment funds have still not decided to return their portfolios to the Croatian Privatisation Funds, Zavoreo said, and added the NAMA administration still enjoyed their confidence. He appealed to the hunger strikers to stop with the strike, at least for some time, but they refused. Strikers committee chairwoman Dragica Petrinjak said the strike would go on. The strikers will move to the premises of the Croatian Association of Trade Unions. They will briefly come in front of the PBZ building every morning. (hina) ha