Bridge member of parliament Marija Selak Raspudic said on Wednesday that this opposition party would demand that the government inform the legislature of the procurement of medical equipment during the corona crisis and that documents on the matter should be declassified.

Selak Raspudic told a news conference today that Bridge would put forward a motion to the parliament asking the government to submit a report to MPs on the matter within 30 days.

“Since the outbreak of the corona crisis nine months ago, the market has been ‘reset’ and a serious risk of corruption, and the fact that the government keeps secret all information on what has been procured and what is going to be procured during the corona crisis, made us send this motion to the parliament,” she said.

Bridge insists on a report on the purchase and usage of strategic national stockpiles since 17 March this year.

The party insists that the report specifies exactly the quantities of the procured supplies, prices and suppliers.

She said that the procurement of medical equipment should be included in the procedures covered by the legislation on public procurement and that those procedures should no longer be confidential.

In this context, Selak Raspudic said that in September 2018, the UN Security Council labelled corruption as a security problem worldwide.

This should be highlighted, she said, wondering why Croatia’s National Security Council has never discussed the issue of corruption.

She went on to say that in 2017 UN experts assessed that healthcarewas one of the most profitable systems and also one of the most prone to corruption, and she added that during the corona crisis experts expect a rise in corruption in the healthcare system worldwide.

She recalled that this June Slovenia was shaken by a scandal about ventilator procurement, and wondered how come that “we in Croatia have no knowledge of any corruption scandal in the corona crisis.”