"I will ask the steering board to decide at its meeting tomorrow whether or not criminal charges should be brought against the President of the Republic for defamation of the Bar Association," Andreis told Hina.

Andreis was particularly angered by Josipovic's statement: "I don't remember a time, or maybe it was very long ago in some past system, when the Bar Association reacted this promptly to encouragement from politicians."

Josipovic made the statement on Tuesday in a comment on the disciplinary action taken by the HOK against the attorney Anto Nobilo over his interview in Globus magazine in which he said that investigators were trying to narrow down the investigation of fraud in the state-owned electricity company HEP and the Sibenik-based light metal factory TLM to his client, former deputy prime minister Damir Polancec, in order to protect government officials and force Polancec to testify against former prime minister Ivo Sanader.

Andreis said that by asserting that the disciplinary action against Nobilo was instigated by politicians, Josipovic damaged the reputation of the legal profession and the Bar Association.

"I emphatically declare that there was no pressure on me or the HOK. This is not the first time I have taken disciplinary action against colleagues who I thought violated the Bar's code of ethics," Andreis said, adding that one of his duties was to protect the reputation of the legal profession and the HOK.

Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor sent a letter to Andreis last Friday requesting his opinion on whether the Bar's code of ethics allowed for statements such as those made by Nobilo and whether they represented a form of pressure on the judiciary.

Andreis said he did not think Kosor's letter was a form of pressure on the HOK. "I don't think that was pressure, but what President Josipovic and some media are now doing is a glaring example of pressure."

Andreis rejected suspicions of his involvement in the privatisation of TLM and that he was therefore in conflict of interest.

"I regret that the President is a graduate lawyer and that he doesn't know that due diligence in TLM, which was conducted at the request of a potential buyer, had nothing to do with the privatisation of the Sibenik company," Andreis said in a comment on Josipovic's statement that Andreis's connection to the case in question was "awkward" given that he was involved in the privatisation of TLM as a lawyer.