GOVT REPS HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE ON 'WHEAT SCANDAL'

ZAGREB, Oct 7 (Hina) - The Government has sent the results of a State Audit Office report on the work of the State Administration for Commodity Stockpiles to the Interior Ministry. The Interior Ministry is to investigate those results and bring criminal charges against persons responsible for irregularities, Croatian Premier Zlatko Matesa told a press conference Monday. Speaking about this summer's 'wheat scandal', Matesa said that it had been discovered that wheat, which had been exported as a 'surplus' this summer, was not a surplus at all. The Government had been duped into believing that there were large quantities of surplus wheat. When representatives of flour producers started claiming in June this year that 80,000 tons of wheat should be imported, the Government secured 10,000 of flour from a French producer. The flour was paid with wheat export. 'The Government was not fooled into buying its own wheat at a price higher that its export price', Matesa said, promising that this would not happen again. He also announced the reorganization of the State Administration for Commodity Stockpiles. Economy Minister Davor Stern said that Croatia had inherited a bad situation in commodity stockpiles from the former state. 'It is not known whether 50,000 tons of wheat disappeared this summer or ten years ago'. If it had not been for the 'wheat scandal', that amount of wheat would still be registered in the documentation, Stern said. Croatia's Economy Minister refuted claims saying that the imported flour was of low quality. (hina) rm jn 071707 MET oct 96