The statement also read that Mesic today received Podbevsek and expressed his dissatisfaction with the POA's behaviour with regard to the collection of information from reporter Helena Puljiz.
Such behaviour is in violation of constitutional provisions on human rights and fundamental freedoms and rules referring to the methodology of collection of information and the procedure of application of authority and professional rules, as indicated in a report of the Council for National Security on an investigation in the POA, the statement said.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said this evening that he would not co-sign the decision to relieve Podbevsek of duty.
Sanader added that the reaction of the President's Office was the result of the fact that the POA had pressed charges against a former secretary of the President's Office, Zeljko Bagic, and former POA director Franjo Turek. That is why the proposal will not be co-signed, Sanader told reporters in Zagreb.