Responding to the accusations Koznjak made at a news conference in Virovitica on Tuesday, Antunovic said that they were "fabrications and lies" which proved the SDP's position that "every time the HDZ gets caught violating the law, it makes up new scandals".
SDP spokesman Zoran Milanovic repeated the SDP's call to relevant state institutions to investigate the alleged involvement of the government and the HDZ in lobbying activities regarding the sale of the state's share in Pliva to the US company Barr Pharmaceuticals.
Milanovic accused the HDZ of continuing to hide from the public the truth about the Pliva affair.
He dismissed accusations from the HDZ that the SDP was lobbying for the Icelandic company Actavis, one of the two bidders for the purchase of Pliva shares. The HDZ supported its allegations by claiming that one and the same marketing agency was representing both Actavis and the SDP.
"It turns out that the SDP is hostage to a small marketing agency, which is nonsense. We neither favour Actavis, nor are we interested in such a thing, nor do we favour either bidder and we do not care who will acquire Pliva shares as long as it is in line with applicable laws," Milanovic said.