Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) had been involved in shedding light on the Agrokor case, but there had been no requests for security vetting, so only publicly available sources were used, and not SOA’s resources, SOA chief Danijel Markic said on Thursday.

“SOA was involved in shedding light on the Agrokor case, and will be in every case involving corruption. We attended certain meetings and certainly made our contribution,” Markic told reporters.

He said he had been invited to all meetings by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, and that no one had requested any security vetting which, under the law, would not have been possible in this case any way.

“Deputy Prime Minister (Martina Dalic) did not and could have not requested any security vetting,” he added.

“Certainly, I gave my opinion when I was in a meeting with certain persons. When the government must decide on a person, they can ask if that person is controversial, and then we use public sources.”

Markic said he had not read in detail the transcripts of depositions former Economy Minister Martina Dalic gave the USKOK anti-corruption office after a criminal complaint filed by the opposition Zivi Zid party, which N1 published exclusively on Wednesday.

According to the transcripts, PM Andrej Plenkovic and the leadership of his HDZ party were acquainted from the start with the formation of a task force which was formed to tackle the crisis in the indebted Agrokor conglomerate, initiated by the then coalition partner Most party, provided the finance minister Zdravko Maric was not involved.

The depositions also show that Dalic exerted pressure on the media, as well as her cooperation with the heads of the Financial Agency and SOA.

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