Conflict of Interest Commission chair Aleksandra Jozic-Ilekovic confirmed on Monday the Commission would open a case against green-left Mozemo! party MP Sandra Bencic because she failed to state in her asset declaration that she was paying the rent on a flat, which under the law she was obliged to do.

Jozic-Ilekovic said that Bencic should have stated that fact in the section on financial obligations.

The omission by the candidate of the We Can! party for the post of prime minister was detected by the 24sata daily, which reported that Bencic was renting an 80-square-metre apartment in downtown Zagreb for which she paid €580 a month.

Bencic admitted her mistake, saying that she would correct it and stressing that she had nothing to hide and that her not entering her rent in her declaration of assets was to her detriment.

“Having an expenditure is to my advantage, and this (not having reported it) is to my own detriment,” she said, explaining that after her second child was born, she and her husband decided to move from her own small apartment and rent a bigger one.

“We are renting the smaller apartment and I have declared that income in my declaration of assets, but I did not report that I was paying the rent and the amount of the rent,” she said, noting that this was due to ambiguities in the asset declaration form and that she should have consulted with the Commission.

Jozic-Ilekovic said Bencic could be fined 530 to 5,300 euros, but that she could also only be given a warning.