"We absolutely reject such allegations and fabrications that have no basis in reality," government spokesman Vlatko Macek said on Tuesday.
Commenting on media reports about a meeting of government officials with Pliva's top managers in the Italian city of Verona, Macek said the government could not speculate as to who was behind such allegations, stressing that it was in the government's interest that the whole affair should be transparent and that Pliva's shares should be sold to the best bidder.
The allegations were also dismissed today by the Director of the Security Intelligence Agency (SOA), Tomislav Karamarko, and the Chairman of the Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ) Board of Directors, Bozo Prka.
Karamarko confirmed he had discussed the matter with Prka and explained the content and the context of their conversation.
Karamarko said Prka had called him on the phone about a month and a half ago and asked him if the Counter-Intelligence Agency was involved in efforts to give US company Barr Pharmaceuticals preference over Iceland's Actavis in purchasing Pliva.
"I was surprised by the question and I vehemently denied it, explaining to Mr Prka what the Counter-Intelligence Agency is about," Karamarko said, noting that their conversation was "very brief and polite."
PBZ issued a statement today, dismissing as "completely untrue" media reports implying that Prka had accused Karamarko of lobbying for Barr Pharmaceuticals and that he had demanded that Karamarko do the same for Actavis.
Based on informal information that the SOA was involved in a business transaction, Prka contacted Karamarko by telephone two months ago to ask him if that was possible, the statement said.
"It is quite clear that this is nothing but insinuation by the media with totally absurd fabrications. It is hard to believe that anyone from PBZ would exert pressure on the secret service. For PBZ the Pliva case is closed and we have nothing to add here," the bank said.