Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic said on Monday he had always performed his duties in line with law and that he did not want to comment on unchecked allegations in the media implicating him in the 2018 case of awarding of grants to ineligible businesses.

Following Saturday’s arrest of former minister Darko Horvat, who is the prime suspect in the case, Deputy PM Milosevic, who is cited by the media as one of the six suspects, has tendered his resignation.

Today, Milosevic wrote on his Facebook account that he had always acted in line with law “investing all my  efforts and political work in the fight against discrimination, which, unfortunately, is present in our society, and in all areas, as well as in promoting the development and economic sustainability of certain regions in Croatia.”

According to initial media reports about this scandal, an investigation has been launched into suspicions that several office-holders were involved in cases of unfair privileged employment and that they used their influence to ensure that grants were given to some of the businesses in areas populated by ethnic minorities.

Apart from Milosevic, Horvat, who served as the economy minister at the time relevant to the investigation, and his former aide Ana Mandac, the other suspects are the state secretary at the Regional Development and EU Funds Ministry, Velimir Zunac, the head of the Directorate for Assisted Areas, Katica Miskovic, and former minister Tomislav Tolusic.

Milosevic wrote that he could understand the interest of the general public in the whole affair, however he would refrain from commenting on unofficial and unverified pieces of information disseminated by the media.

Milosevic says he has chosen “a painstaking path of change of the general public awareness of discriminatory practices or actions,” and adds that he will continue to advocate the rights of ethnic minorities without taking any advantage for himself or anyone else, as a person elected to represent the ethnic Serb minority.