The Anti-Corruption Council decided on Wednesday to launch public interrogations of former and current executives of the INA oil and gas group, and the former and current ministers of economy, following the gas resale scandal, despite the HDZ's claim that such hearings are not legal.

“We voted a conclusion related to the INA scandal, to start a series of public hearings regarding the appointment of people to key positions in our state-owned companies. INA will serve as a case study and we will invite former and current members of the management and supervisory boards, former and current economy ministers Tomislav Coric and Davor Filipovic, as well as people who contacted and alerted us of certain irregularities and illegalities in INA,” the Council’s chairman Nikola Grmoja, of the opposition Most party, said after the several-hour session.

The hearings will start after serious preparation that we will have next Thursday, Grmoja added.

We already have a certain number of whistleblowers and former members of the management and supervisory boards respectively, who are ready to attend a public hearing.

Grmoja admits that he does not know how much those witnesses can say publicly given trade secrets, but he hopes they will at least state their position on the government’s conduct and attitude towards the Hungarians.

Responding to HDZ’s claims that the hearings are illegal, Grmoja retorted that the council has been organising hearings since the beginning of this term, including the chief state attorney.

Habijan: Anti-Corruption Council does not have authority to summon people to hearings

“I’m afraid we are moving towards anarchy, which these noisemakers are forcing, yet the only question is whether we will adhere to the decisions we adopted in the parliament,” Damir Habijan (HDZ party) said, adding that Grmoja is always vocal in defending justice and morality yet now as the chairman he is acting against that decision.

On Tuesday, this  HDZ MP also raised the question of the powers of the Anti-Corruption Council in light of the fact that a multinational company from another country is the majority owner of INA.