Split city councillor Davor Matijevic of the Social Democratic Party said on Friday that Mayor Ivica Puljak signed a HRK 135 million loan agreement with OTP bank in mid-July about which the public and the partners in the then ruling majority knew nothing.

Speaking at a press conference, Matijevic said that “only today did we find out” about the agreement signed on 15 July whereby the city borrowed HRK 135 million.

The amount was mentioned at Thursday’s meeting of the City Council by the head of the finance department, Olenka Dadic, who said the city budget was likely to be in the red by HRK 135 million at the end of the year and that it would be necessary to take out a short-term loan in that amount to bridge the gap.

Matijevic said that on 8 August, at a meeting of the ruling majority, Puljak said it was necessary to revise the 2021 city budget and that the city would have to take out a short-term loan to bridge the deficit.

Matijevic added that the mayor did not state either the terms, the interest rate or that he signed a loan agreement already in July.

He wondered why Puljak signed the agreement on 15 July given that work on the budget revision began early in September, and if other banks had made any offers.

Matijevic said the mayor’s wife Marijana Puljak and Deputy Mayor Antonio Kuzmanić had worked for OTP bank for years.

He said this was yet another example of a lack of transparency from a mayor who publicly advocated transparency, urging Puljak to explain the loan agreement at next week’s City Council meeting.

The ruling majority in the 31-seat City Council fell apart yesterday after Puljak said the two SDP councillors, Matijevic and Goran Kotur, were no longer part of the majority. Puljak now has the minority support of 15 councillors.