Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said on Wednesday that he did not know about the preliminary probes in the JANAF case because such was the law, adding that the chief of police had informed him of the developments the night when that preliminary investigation had been completed.

Bozinovic told the RTL television channel that he could not know about any preliminary investigation which the police open and conduct in coordination with the USKOK anti-corruption office and the Office of Chief State Prosecutor (DORH).

“Such is the law, the chief of police informed me the night before that a criminal investigation had been completed, that there had been arrests and that more people would be arrested the following day,” Bozinovic said.

Asked whether it was a clever idea that the prime minister does not know that there will be a key arrest when it has to do with a person appointed by the government, Bozinovic underscored that such was the law.

“When there is a basis for suspicion, especially when it comes to matters that USKOK deals with, then everything is a done by a small circle of people, and in the police by the officers who are on that case. Not all state prosecutors know about the case either,” the minister said.

Asked whether it was normal that the prime minister does not know about something, given the fact that the reappointment of Dragan Kovacevic to the position of JANAF CEO, Minister underscored that the reappointment had been in February.

“I think the director of USKOK has explained that … the preliminary investigation goes on until enough evidence is collected so that a criminal complaint can be filed,” Bozinovic said.

Minister thinks that the most important thing is that the preliminary investigation was successful, because if they had not been, a criminal complaint would not have been filed.