Conflict of Interest Commission commented for N1 on Monday the reports they received against Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric and leader of Most opposition party Bozo Petrov.

The Commission looked into reports against Plenkovic, Petrov, and Maric, as well as the content of released testimonies given by Martina Dalic, Ante Ramljak, and Zoran Besak to Croatia’s anti-corruption police Uskok in the case of the so-called Lex Agrokor, law on state-appointed crisis management in strategically important companies, passed by the government in April 2017 after the crisis began in the indebted Agrokor food and retail conglomerate.

Last Wednesday, N1 released exclusive transcripts of the deposition that former Economy Minister Martina Dalic’s gave to Uskok in which she talked about the government’s handling of the crisis at Agrokor.

The transcripts also include depositions given to investigators by Agrokor crisis manager Ante Ramljak, and one of Dalic’s advisor Zoran Besak. They reveal a number of contentious points regarding the process through which Prime Minister Plenkovic’s government tried to handle the threat of bankruptcy at the food and retail group Agrokor, the largest single company in the country at the time.

“In the case of (Finance Minister) Zdravko Maric, a decision was made to relaunch the proceedings, as well as to merge this case with a newly opened one which is based on a complaint lodged on Friday, August 24,” the Commission said.

The Commission had decided in April that Maric, who was once an employee in the conglomerate, hadn’t breached the principle of conducting public office while Lex Agrokor was being prepared. In his statement to the Commission then, Maric testified that he had attended only two meetings concerning Agrokor. However, Dalic’s deposition showed that he attended more meetings.

Maric was reported to the Commission on Friday by leader and party secretary of the opposition party Zivi Zid over his meetings with his former employer Ivica Todoric (former owner of Agrokor) and the expert group which helped draft the so-called Lex Agrokor. Zivi Zid also lodged complaints against Plenkovic and Petrov on the same day.

“The Commission determined that the content of the lodged complaint against Prime Minister Plenkovic matches the content of a previously lodged complaint, based on which proceedings had already been launched. The newly opened case against the Prime Minister was therefore merged with the existing one, and steps have been taken to obtain necessary documentation,” the Commission said.

A new case was opened against Bozo Petrov, they added.

“The Commission also opened a case against Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic, based on possible discrepancies between the documentation given to the Commission in the case against Maric, and the information released in the media on the same events,” they said.

As part of the proceedings, the Commission will request statements from authorities and other persons with relevant information, the Commission told N1.

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