MP Dalija Oreskovic of the opposition Centre party said on Monday a new conflict of interest bill "boils down to weakening the role and power" of the Conflict of Interest Commission as one of the most important anti-corruption bodies.

The bill actually brings nothing new, the former Commission chair told the press, adding that it would be more appropriate to rename the Commission the Corruption Prevention Office. As for the larger scope of office holders that would have to declare their assets, Oreskovic said the bill did not stipulate how their declarations would be checked and that the evident goal was to prevent substantial checking.

She said the Commission’s greatest effectiveness to date came from its public sessions and decisions, criticizing the fact that the bill allowed the Commission to exclude the public in future. She also criticized the fact that the Commission chair would not have to have passed the Bar exam.

Oreskovic went on to say that the Commission was already a body without power and significance, and that the USKOK anti-corruption office and the State Attorney’s Office (DORH) were inclined to cut the most powerful corrupt politicians some slack.

She said such a system could not work without prevention and that the Commission should have that role.

Conflict o Interest Commission could have led to the government’s fall

Recalling the sacking of ministers Tomislav Tolusic, Lovro Kuscevic and Goran Maric due to suspicion of corruption, Oreskovic said “the Conflict of Interest Commission was the government’s biggest stumbling block.”

“Unlike the judiciary, the Commission delivered decisions in a short time and could have led to the fall of the government.”

Asked about media reports that State Attorney General Zlata Hrvoj-Sipek was at a meeting at which an investigation of former EU funds minister Gabrijela Zalac was stopped, Oreskovic said that Hrvoj-Sipek and USKOK head Vanja Marusic had lost trust even before the latest compromising details and that they could not do their jobs.

Those details are more compromising for those in whose interest it was to cover up and obstruct the Zalac case because Hrvoj-Sipek and Marusic did not work solely in their interest to keep their jobs, Oreskovic said.

The one who profited the most is evidently someone else, but since the (ruling) HDZ stands behind Hrvoj-Sipek, the rest of us have to wonder what is going on with USKOK and DORH given that in three years we’ve had three different state attorney generals, she said.

The only way out is the next parliamentary election and reorganizing USKOK and DORH on quality and independent foundations, she added.