Veljko Kajtazi, a member of parliament from the Roma minority, has requested that a life-size statue of him in a karate pose be financed with state funds and erected in front of the Arena in Pula, the weekly newspaper Nacional reports on the front page of its latest issue.

Nacional also reports that the State Attorney-General Ivan Turudic is preparing an investigation against Veljko Kajtazi for an attack on the president of the Croatian Romani Union “Kali Sara”, Suzana Krcmar.

The weekly reports that sources with direct knowledge of the situation revealed shocking new details about Kajtazi’s unacceptable behaviour over the weekend, suggesting that the physical attack on Suzana Krcmar is not the only scandal and possibly a criminal act involving the influential MP and coalition partner of the ruling majority led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

“Large sums illegally spent from the state budget”

Nacional reports, citing reliable sources among former employees of the Romani Union “Kali Sara” and former close associates of Kajtazi, that “there is a serious and well-founded suspicion that Kajtazi illegally spent large sums from the state budget on beneficiaries from the Roma national minority over whom he has control or decisive influence.”

The source claims that most of the money was used for the “Wall of Pain” monument in the village of Ustica near Jasenovac, which cost around six million kuna (796,000 euros).

Nacional also gained access to some accounting documents of “Kali Sara”,” which point to financial irregularities within the organisation. The employees claim that Kajtazi spent considerable funds in an opaque manner, including on printing books about himself, creating his own portraits and producing a film biography, and that he requested payments for construction projects related to his son’s enrichment without public tender.