Former Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec's attorney Anto Nobilo has asked State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic to refuse to meet with PM Jadranka Kosor about the INA-MOL case, saying Kosor must have witness status in this case and that if the criteria applied to his client are applied to her, she could become a suspect.
Nobilo contacted Bajic by letter on Thursday after Kosor's proposal that they meet to see what the government can do to protect national interests following, as she said, very serious speculations about investigations into bribes and the Hungarian oil company MOL.
The meeting Kosor is proposing is contrary to the interests of criminal proceedings and undermines the right to a fair trial, Nobilo said. He is defending Polancec in a recent investigation into a EUR 10 million bribe which MOL's management board chairman allegedly paid to former PM Ivo Sanader in exchange for management rights in the Croatian oil company INA.
Nobilo said Kosor must have witness status in this case and that if the criteria applied to Polancec were applied to her, she could become a suspect and that in such circumstances, acquainting a witness or a suspect with the details of a confidential investigation would be a grave breach of the law on criminal procedure and his client's rights.
Nobilo said that as a member of the HDZ presidency, Kosor voted for the transfer of management rights in INA to MOL as well as for the separation of the gas business from INA. He added that as a deputy PM, Kosor discussed and approved every negotiating position of the government, that she was on the government team that defined the latest versions of the agreement with MOL, voted for the final text of the agreement, personally took part in the final stage of the negotiations, and authorised Polancec to sign the agreement she now wanted to contest.
Nobilo went on to say that Kosor chaired the steering committee of the War Veterans Fund when it sold its seven-percent stake in INA to MOL, after which the government's stake in INA dropped to below 51 percent.
Without that stake drop, management rights would not have been negotiated, Nobilo said, appealing to Bajic to refuse to meet with Kosor.
Apart from confirming receipt of the letter, the State Prosecutor's Office would say nothing else. Asked if and when the meeting with Kosor would take place, they said the public would be informed on time when there was information of public interest.
