Emanuel Kovacic, a candidate for a member of the INA Management Board, has informed the government that he is withdrawing his candidacy for personal reasons, and the government will put forward a new nomination to the INA Supervisory Board as soon as possible, the government said on Tuesday.

At the closed-door part of its meeting on Monday, the government proposed to the INA Supervisory Board the appointment of Miroslav Skalicki, Hrvoje Simovic and Emanuel Kovacic as members of the INA Management Board to serve until the completion of a public call for candidates for the appointment to the INA Management Board or a maximum six months.

After it was discovered that INA was defrauded of more than one billion kuna through unlawful gas resales, Management Board President Sándor Fasimon stepped down, followed by the other two Hungarian members of the Management Board, Ferenc Horváth and József Simola.

The Croatian members of the Management Board of INA, which is jointly owned by the Croatian state and the Hungarian energy group MOL, are Niko Dalic, Darko Markotic and Barbara Doric.

The government has said that it expects the company’s entire management board to step down in the wake of the gas resale scam, and that it expected the company’s management model to be thoroughly reexamined.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said after the cabinet meeting on Monday that he had called for the resignation of the entire INA Management Board, including the Croatian members, adding that a solution would be found for their dismissal without high severance pay.

He added that there was a way for them not to receive severance pay and that more would be known after a meeting of the INA Supervisory Board, scheduled for Wednesday.