Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic relieved Davor Filipovic of his duties as Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development on Tuesday. Based on this decision, Jurica Lovrincevic will no longer serve as special adviser to the Minister.

Filipovic’s dismissal came after the Nacional weekly ran an article saying that his special adviser Lovrincevic offered to the Zagreb-based local television network Mreza TV to lease advertising space to a number of state companies and institutions, in return asking for half of the agreed amount to be paid to him. The weekly released an audio recording of a conversation between Lovrincevic and a Mreza TV reporter.

A government press release said that Lovrincevic was relieved of all duties to which he had been appointed by the government, including as a member of the crisis response team on the security of gas supply, a member of the Management Board of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund and as government representative on the Assembly of the Croatian Energy Market Operator.