ZAGREB, Aug 29 (Hina) - The president of the Croatian Bloc party (HB), Ivic Pasalic, said on Friday that he had no knowledge of whether the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) had held secret accounts when he was a senior official of said
party.
ZAGREB, Aug 29 (Hina) - The president of the Croatian Bloc party
(HB), Ivic Pasalic, said on Friday that he had no knowledge of
whether the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) had held secret
accounts when he was a senior official of said party. #L#
"I knew about the HDZ's financing when I was the party's secretary-
general, from September 1992 until September 1993, and during that
time, as far as I know, there were no secret accounts," Pasalic said
in reply to questions regarding the HDZ's political racketeering.
"It is interesting that this story has become the centre of media
attention just ahead of elections, although officials at the Office
for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime say they have
been dealing with the issue for two years," Pasalic said, wondering
why Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic had not investigated the
claims earlier.
The HB president confirmed that, as head of the HDZ's executive
board, he had personally employed Valerija Maric, who was mentioned
by the Jutarnji list daily as the holder of an account in Zupanjska
Bank, into which more than eight million kuna (in excess of EUR1
million), intended for the party, had been paid in 1997. He said he
had employed her at the recommendation of Anton Kovacev, a member of
the HDZ executive board at the time.
(hina) lml