Agriculture Minister Tihomir Jakovina said on Thursday that he had sold his company TJ-PROM to a Croatian entrepreneur after this topic of the minister's debt-ridden business recently hit the headlines with the media accusing him of being in a conflict of interest.
I sold the company on 15 December to a young businessman in Slavonski Brod for HRK 400,000 with the obligation to cover the company's debts including accrued interest and settle debts to all creditors, Minister Jakovina told journalists.
Asked why he had not reacted on time regarding this matter, he replied that he had made a mistake and was aware of that but that he had apologised to the conflict of interest commission, the Croatian public, to the prime minister but due to the nature of his office, he simply omitted to deal with the matter in a timely fashion.
Journalists questioned how he would settle all his debts to creditors which, according to the media reports, amounted to around HRK 700,000 and that his tax dues were about HRK 150,000, Jakovina said that this information was not entirely correct that all his debts would be settled.
He added that he realised that it was his legal obligation to transfer management rights and that he had omitted to do so on time but that he now decided to go one step further and sell the company so there would not be any room for further speculation about any conflict of interest.
