PARLIAMENT REJECTS PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH INQUIRIES COMMISSION

ZAGREB, Nov 6 (Hina) - The Croatian Sabor's (parliament) House of Representatives on Friday rejected a proposal to establish an inquiries commission to investigate the possible misuse of intelligence and security services. The proposal received no support from any MP, 58 voted against and six abstained. The vote was not attended by MPs from the six opposition parties (Social Democratic Party - SDP, Croatian Social Liberal Party - HSLS, Croatian Peasants' Party - HSS, Liberal Party - LS, Istrian Democratic Assembly - IDS and Croatian People's Party - HNS) who (31 of them) had put forward the motion to establish the commission. The case of misuse of intelligence services was triggered off by interviews given by two high Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) officials who accused the Security-Information Service (SIS) of tapping their phones and putting them under surveillance. The six opposition parties presented their motion for the establishment of the inquiries commission after the Sabor's Committee for Internal Policy and National Security heard and considered statements by four officials involved in the "SIS scandal", concluding that there had been no case of misuse of intelligence services. The opposition was dissatisfied because their request for the Office for National Security (UNS) and Croatian Information Service (HIS) to submit their reports on the whole affair, had not been accepted. The opposition also stressed that the conclusion adopted by the Committee at the end of the investigation, was adopted without a quorum, namely, after they had already walked out of the session. Members of the Committee from the six opposition parties expressed their dissatisfaction then by resigning their posts in the Committee. (hina) mm rml/sp