Economy Minister Tomislav Coric said on Friday that he was not concerned by a request by a nongovernmental association sent to the Conflict of Interest Commission to initiate proceedings against him after it was established that he was one of the guests who frequented "Kovacevic's Club."

The GONG association requested the Commission to inspect the case of Minister Coric as well as another two ministers Oleg Butkovic and Josip Aladrovic whom this association accuses of having violated the regulations on the prevention of conflict of interest when they visited the rooms where the former JANAF director Dragan Kovacevic kept his club.

“I am not concerned. Of course I will give my position on correspondence that will be sent to me, if the case has indeed been opened. However, I do not see any reason for questioning if it is going in the direction the said allegations,” Coric said.

Coric also replied that he had not socialised with Kovacevic when the selection process for members of the board of the state-run JANAF company had been advertised.

The minister explained that he had visited the club after the JANAF board had been appointed and after the lockdown.

He also recalled that Kovacevic had been reappointed JANAF CEO in February, and that he had been at the helm of JANAF since 2012.

Coric also dismissed President Zoran Milanovic’s claims that the ministers who visited the club had actually been “sucked in.”