CRO INTELLIGENCE SERVICE SAFE DEPOSIT BOX STILL IN SEPAROVIC'S FLAT

ZAGREB, June 18 (Hina) - Staff of the Croatian Intelligence Service (HIS) failed to show up at the Zagreb flat of former HIS manager Miroslav Separovic at the appointed time by the afternoon hours of Friday to take over a safe deposit box. According to Separovic, HIS staff was to take over the safe by one pm. HIS manager Tomislav Druzak requested Separovic on June 14 to return official material within three days. He returned a car and a cellular phone Thursday evening, and was to turn over the safe today. The turn-over of the box had, according to Separovic, been agreed with the head of the HIS service for physical and technical protection. Since nobody came for the safe by three pm, Separovic told reporters he spoke twice over the phone to authorised people at HIS. He was told they would come to pick up the safe "when conditions have been created." "They still haven't told me what these conditions are, but I assume the reason for their not coming is the presence of reporters and photographers," Separovic said. Separovic, a former justice minister, was apprehended last week on suspicion of disclosing secrets of state. He told reporters he had never disclosed official of state secrets, neither during nor after his service as HIS manager. Separovic believes the entire process against him is aimed at intimidating the public and discrediting him. "If a former minister and former chief of the intelligence service is arrested without evidence, what should an ordinary citizen expect," he wondered. "I will not stand accused by people to whose omissions and irregularities I pointed during my tenure at HIS and because of whom I resigned on that position, these people use methods of the former regime for their material interests," Separovic said. Since his arrest, Separovic has been subjected to frequent "threats and provocation", he said, adding he would use all legal means to defend himself. (hina) ha jn