The C.E.M.P. company, which is specialised in energy production and which is an investor ino the Krs-Padjene wind park project, on Tuesday dismissed allegations in the parliamentary interpellation on the project as being illogical and incorrect.

C.E.M.P. says in an open letter that those false claims are being used to stoke the wind park scandal, launched by the media.

C.E.M.P. recalls that the Krs-Padjene wind park project was initiated in 2003, as one of the first projects involving wind parks in Croatia. The company says that Krs-Padjene has been one of the four projects it has launched, and that that project was constructed and put into operation after almost 17 years of “a mish-mash of complications and favourtism.” The other three projects were never constructed, the company says refuting claims that it enjoys special status.

C.E.M.P. says that is has been exposed to blanket and unfounded accusations only because of the size of the project. Only because we have survived, we are forced to defend ourselves against the accusations about being favoured, it says, underscoring that currently the company is involved in several legal proceedings against different state institutions, an argument that refutes claims about it being favoured.

As for the HROTE energy market operator, the company recalls that it had concluded an agreement with that regulator for the purchase of electricity on 31 December 2013. At the time the 12th Croatian government was led by the then Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic.

C.E.M.P. dismisses the allegations about irregularities, as claimed in the interpellation, regarding adjustments to subsidised electricity prices. It recalls that in the late 2013, also a dozen other projects for wind parks and solar energy parks concluded relevant agreements with HROTE, apart from C.E.M.P.

With regard to the accusations targeted against current Economy and Sustainable Minister Tomislav Coric, who was the energy and environment protection minister, C.E.M.P. says that apart from permits related to environment protection, the project was previously awarded final licences, including a building permit and some other permits.

It was not Minister Coric who gave the green-light for the construction of the 142 megawatt plant in 2017. He only made it possible for us to incorporate a new, safer and advanced technology that reduced the number of aggregators and the size of the land for the project.

In response to the project’s critics, the company says that it is at least odd that they are insisting on the interpellation that the ministry and agencies should follow progress in the development of state-of-the-art technologies yet at the same time they hold a grudge against Coric for having enabled the use of new technologies in the Krs-Padjene project.

As for the accusations that the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) awarded it a soft loan, the company says that instead of the usual share of 25% to 30% of the investor’s own funds to finance the project, C.E.M.P. had to ensure 60% of its own funds before the loan was approved.

HBOR was included in the project only after 50% of the project had been constructed and the loan was approved with an above-market interest rate.

On 8 October the Homeland Movement parliamentary group submitted a motion for an interpellation on the government’s work concerning the Krs-Padjene wind park project, supported by 20 opposition MPs.