After the Deputy Prime-Minister, and Economy Minister, Martina Dalic, resigned earlier today, the leader of the largest opposition party, the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP), Davor Bernardic, commented on the resignation at a press conference.

“We have witnessed a formal confession and confirmation of everything we have warned about – the largest corruption scandal in the history of Croatia,” Bernardic said.

Martina Dalic resigned today over a scandal that arose when e-mails were leaked which showed correspondence between her and the consultants and lawyers who had worked on drafting the controversial Lex Agrokor bill in early 2017.

“The Prime Minister has repeatedly used deadlines as an alibi. That can not serve as an extenuating circumstance for all the irregularities and criminal activities that took place in Agrokor,” he said.

The Prime Minister said today in a joint press conference with Dalic that there was no time for more transparency in the process because the stability of the country’s economy was on the line.

“Martina Dalic says that the critics were grasping for straws. It would be funny if it were not tragic. I say to (the Prime Minister) Plenkovic that the story does not end here, it only begins here. I call for the State’s Attorney Office (DORH) to finally react in line with the Croatian law. We demand the responsible to be punished, and an early election (to be called),” Bernardic said.

“For a year we have been warning of all the irregularities, and calling for a reaction by the institutions in charge. DORH must act in line with their duty. In normal European countries, the Prime Minister’s resignation would be a matter of political responsibility. Today’s events confirmed that he knew about the scandal all along. His silence covered up for criminal activities, which must be characterised as an abuse of power,” he said.