Opposition members of Zagreb's city assembly, Sandra Svaljek and Darinko Kosor, held a news conference on Monday in front of the city hall, to comment on the proceedings launched on Friday against Mayor Milan Bandic by the Parliament's Commission on Conflict of Interest.

Opposition members of Zagreb’s city assembly, Sandra Svaljek and Darinko Kosor, held a news conference on Monday in front of the city hall, to comment on the proceedings launched on Friday against Mayor Milan Bandic by the Parliament’s Commission on Conflict of Interest.

The Commission said it would investigate Bandic over documents which recently surfaced showing that he had travelled to Rome 62 times over the last five years, and also an office space leased by the city to a member of his political party Bandic Milan 365.

Although his trips were paid for by Zagreb taxpayers, the reason for his visits are a mystery, as he had never met any foreign official, either on the municipal or national level, on any of them.

The documents surfaced in a complaint filed to the Commission. Although the complaints are not anonymous, the Commission refused to disclose the name as a matter of policy.

“This was filed by somebody who obviously had that piece of information, somebody who was in a position to record all those trips. In order to have that kind of information, one must be inside the City Hall. So, it’s very likely that this came from an insider,” Svaljek told reporters. “I think the Commission will professionally examine look into this matter, and then, as required by law, turn it over to the judiciary,” she added.

Darinko Kosor, of the Croatian Social-Liberal Party (HSLS), said this may be a matter for the state attorney office (DORH).

“I hereby invite the Mayor to present detailed documents about these trips to the public. If it is really true that he had travelled 62 times to Rome, it’s something DORH should deal with, and I’m calling on them to determine the real truth,” Kosor said.
In a press release on Monday, the City Hall said that the trips were related to international meetings and conferences of European municipal authorities that Zagreb cooperates with, but omitted details on Bandic’s 62 visits to Rome.

Bandic has been the mayor of Croatia’s capital since 2005, and was implicated in a series of corruption and conflict of interest investigations over the years. Previously a member of the centre-left Social Democrats (SDP), he left the party in 2009, before founding his own eponymous populist party in 2015.

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