ZAGREB, March 11 (Hina) - Croatia's INA oil company has lost between US3.5 million and 4 million as a result of irregularities and omissions in the purchase of oil, and the blame chiefly lies with the company management led by
Tomislav Dragicevic, who have not done enough to rectify the irregularities, a former chairman of the INA Supervisory Board said on Thursday.
ZAGREB, March 11 (Hina) - Croatia's INA oil company has lost between
US3.5 million and 4 million as a result of irregularities and
omissions in the purchase of oil, and the blame chiefly lies with the
company management led by Tomislav Dragicevic, who have not done
enough to rectify the irregularities, a former chairman of the INA
Supervisory Board said on Thursday.#L#
"The managers are responsible, because they did not deal with the
problem of oil purchase. They did not even want to discuss the matter,
and the person most responsible for this is Tomislav Dragicevic,"
Slavko Linic, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidency
who was relieved of his duties as chairman of the INA Supervisory
Board on Wednesday, told a news conference at SDP headquarters in
Zagreb.
Linic welcomed Wednesday's decision by the INA General Assembly to
appoint a new Supervisory Board, adding that the Board would present a
report at a regular session of the Assembly.
"The government must assume responsibility for the oil company and its
strategic partner, the Hungarian MOL. That way new members of the
Supervisory Board can get acquainted with details and run INA
responsibly. I wish them a lot of success," Linic said.
SDP president Ivica Racan condemned a decision by the government to
postpone investment in the modernisation of the railway network,
saying that abandoning development projects could not be justified by
the lack of money or a deficit.
"The decision to abandon the modernisation of railways raises the
question of whether the government has a development plan at all,
because this will cause great damage to the Croatian industry and
bring into question everything the previous government achieved.
Hundreds of jobs are at stake, as well as a negative effect on the
overall development and economic growth," Racan said.
The leader of the strongest opposition party criticised the
government's policy towards the International Monetary Fund, saying
that it had failed to convince the international financial institution
that the modernisation of the Croatian railway system was necessary
both for Croatia and entire Europe.
"It's not true that there is no money," Linic said, adding that the
previous government had managed to convince the IMF of the need to
invest in development projects, including the railways.
"It will be very hard for the government of Ivo Sanader because of the
announced reduction of Value Added Tax and continued investment in
spending. That's why it will be even harder for it to convince the IMF
that the State will be able to spend and develop at the same time," he
added.
Racan also criticised the government, primarily Deputy Prime Minister
and Health Minister Andrija Hebrang, for "coming down on" the
directors of medical institutions, who he said were the chief
promoters of important development projects in the health sector.
(Hina) vm sb