COMMERCIAL COURT HANDLING BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS BY LAW

ZAGREB, Aug 19 (Hina) - President of the Zagreb Commercial Court, Vesna Buljan, on Thursday reacted to articles in some Croatian media concerning bankruptcy proceedings undertaken against the Komercijalna Bank. As President of the Court I claim that the judges of the Commercial Court are responsible and honourable colleagues who are doing their job conscientiously and will conduct these proceedings in the same manner as soon as they are able to tackle the issue, Buljan said in a statement. She said meetings were taking place at the bank to the detriment of all creditors because the expenses of the proceedings were rising, and the worst par, she added, was that the trustee in bankruptcy was not being permitted to do his regular work. She called on the bank's union to perform its function conscientiously, which, after all, it should have done before the start of the bankruptcy proceedings, and to be careful when giving out statements to the media. "Courts are independent are have the right and duty to conduct proceedings according to the law. This will be difficult to realise with public invitations to lynch the commercial court system, calling judges criminals and courts a criminals' lair," Buljan stressed. She recalled the bankruptcy proceedings against the Komercijalna Bank were initiated by the Croatian National Bank and conducted by a bankruptcy council comprising three judges and a trustee. (hina) lml