The Mozemo party reacted to media reports about the price at which its presidential candidate Ivana Kekin bought a plot of land for her house in Istria, describing them as fabricated claims spread by TV host Velimir Bujanec as part of his disinformation campaign.

“Since others are interested in the fabricated stories about the price at which Ivana and Mile Kekin bought a plot of land in Momjan – stories published by Velimir Bujanec, who was convicted of paying prostitutes with cocaine – we are now making the factual information available,” the Mozemo party said in a press release on Sunday.

Mozemo: Compliance with the law can be easily verified

The party emphasised that every stage of the process – from the purchase of the property to the construction of a holiday home in Momjan, a settlement in the town of Buje – was in full compliance with Croatian laws and regulations. This can be easily verified using official documents.

Claims of preferential treatment in the purchase of land from the town of Buje in a public tender are false, as the sequence of events proves, the statement continues.

In the spring of 2018, the Kekin couple reached an agreement with a private individual to purchase a plot of land in Momjan, on which they later built their holiday home. They then expressed their interest to the town of Buje in buying a neighbouring plot of land in order to build a farm there.

They applied for a public tender published by the City of Buje on 27 June 2018 for the sale of municipal land. The couple wanted to purchase 358 square metres of inaccessible and steep terrain.

DORH has initiated an investigation?

The price for all buyers of municipal land in this public tender was set by a court-appointed expert appointed by the City of Buje. All information about the tender and the land prices can be found in the official documentation of the City of Buje, which lists the prices for each of the nine cadastral plots sold.

This document also shows that the price of the plot purchased by the Kekin couple was identical to that of the neighbouring plot, which also confirms that there was no preferential treatment.

Following the tender, the transaction for the municipal plot was completed on 31 July 2018.

According to media reports and as N1 has learnt unofficially, the State Attorney’s Office (DORH) is conducting an investigation in connection with a plot of land in Momjan.

Sandra Bencic, a member of parliament from the Mozemo party, held a press conference on Sunday where she spoke about the investigation launched by the DORH regarding the land purchased by Ivana and Mile Kekin in Istria.

Bencic: Turudic interfered directly in the presidential election campaign

“We know that everything was above board and that is why we are not worried by these unofficial announcements about the investigation, because everything concerning their land is as clear as day,” said Bencic.

“I would like to point out that if it is true that the State Attorney-General Ivan Turudic decided on Sunday to open an investigation based on a Facebook post by Bujanec, who was previously convicted of paying prostitutes with cocaine, and if the State Attorney-General acted on the basis of that post, then in a very short time since he took office, he has done much more than we expected in February. If that is true, then he has directly interfered in the presidential election campaign on the basis of a posting by the notorious Bujanec, and that is unacceptable in a democratic society,” she added.

Bencic emphasised that this situation is certainly no coincidence, as it goes hand in hand with massive attacks on Ivana Kekin and her family.