ZAGREB, Dec 2 (Hina) - Croatian Interior Minister Ivan Penic told +representatives in the Croatian National Sabor's (parliament) +House of Representatives session, on Wednesday, that he believed he +was performing his duties fair and
professionally, however, the +Prime Minister could remove him from his office at any time.+ Croatian Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa agreed and supported Penic's +answer. + During question time, Djurdja Adlesic of the Croatian Social +Liberal Party (HSLS) asked Penic if he would resigned due to the +damage caused by the work of intelligence services. She said that +the work of the services was becoming more public, and claimed Penic +confessed to all accusations of wiretapping journalists.+ The Interior Minister said he was unable to answer Josko Kontic of +the HSLS, who wondered if the President of the Federal Republic of +Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic was the propriet
ZAGREB, Dec 2 (Hina) - Croatian Interior Minister Ivan Penic told
representatives in the Croatian National Sabor's (parliament)
House of Representatives session, on Wednesday, that he believed he
was performing his duties fair and professionally, however, the
Prime Minister could remove him from his office at any time.
Croatian Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa agreed and supported Penic's
answer.
During question time, Djurdja Adlesic of the Croatian Social
Liberal Party (HSLS) asked Penic if he would resigned due to the
damage caused by the work of intelligence services. She said that
the work of the services was becoming more public, and claimed Penic
confessed to all accusations of wiretapping journalists.
The Interior Minister said he was unable to answer Josko Kontic of
the HSLS, who wondered if the President of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic was the proprietor of Zagreb's daily
"Vecernji List". Kontic said he asked that question because
according to him, Penic's Ministry was dealing increasingly with
journalists and newspapers.
Croatian public and senior officials are not familiar with who is
the owner of the company from Virgin Islands, which purchased
"Vecernji List", Kontic said.
According to him it could be Milosevic or Ratko Mladic (war crime
suspect and commander of Republika Srpska army), or some other
enemy of Republic of Croatia. From the aspect of national security,
Kontic said, such issues deserved more attention than "what the
editors and reporters of the weekly "Globus" and "Nacional"
magazines had for lunch yesterday".
"The private life of an individual is of no interest to intelligence
services", said Penic answering Jozo Rados of the HSLS.
The Interior Minister stressed that the Constitutional Order
Protection Service (SZUP) was not wiretapping any social group, and
there were no police files on any profession, including
journalism.
SZUP had data bases on individuals who were connected in any way to a
security problem, said Penic adding that SZUP never deals with
individuals but with security problems.
Srecko Bijelic from the Croatian People's Party (HNS) asked if a
multi-disciplinary report on who was leading the special war
against Croatia could be expected. Prime Minister Metesa said there
were different forms of intelligence services' activities, which
depended on the international community's interest for particular
area.
Croatia was not by its own will, in focus of that interest, and part
of those problems came from the overall political scene. We should
be aware of that problem, and it should not be under or over
estimated, Matesa concluded.
(hina) it/jn