Addressing a news conference in his party's offices, Bacic dismissed media reports alleging that he took part in destroying documents proving the existence of such funds, adding that considering that no one checked the authenticity of documents presented in the media, one could not know if Pavosevic had actually made such accusations.

"The accusations against me are fabrications. When I was appointed HDZ secretary-general and learned that certain cash collections had been made by Pavosevic, I immediately requested documentation on that and demanded that it stop," said Bacic.

He added that Pavosevic had claimed from the first day to have destroyed all documentation on cash collections, and that she had also told this to his associates in the party. He added that it was absurd that she first claimed that the documents had been destroyed, only to dig them out in her garden.

Bacic went on to say that he did not have any reason to destroy evidence on slush funds which he claims he was unaware of, did not collect and did not use. "It is in my and my party's best interests to clear up all the circumstances surrounding those alleged funds."

The HDZ official said the accusations were aimed at compromising him because he was working together with the party president "in a determined and uncompromising manner" on "dealing with the loose ends" of previous scandals.

Bacic said that he was not afraid of an investigation. He added that those who were now accusing him should say in which bank he had allegedly tried to deposit or transfer the funds which former customs authority chief Mladen Barisic had left in the party, and of which he said the party had informed investigative bodies and which he personally handed over to them and gave a statement about.

He said that since he was appointed HDZ secretary-general the party's operations had been completely transparent and in line with the law, and that he had no knowledge of what had been going on before that. He also recalled that the party's official financial reports for 2007 and 2008 had been cleared by the State Audit Office.

Asked if he admitted to the existence of slush funds, Bacic said that Pavosevic had told him personally that she had made certain payments for which she did not want to submit evidence despite the fact that he repeatedly requested her to do so.

He went on to say that at the time he believed that the cash payments in question were lawful, since he was still not familiar with all circumstances regarding the raising of funds for the party, and that he only subsequently found out that those funds had not been paid through drawing accounts.

Asked if he had reported this information to investigative bodies or submitted to them a list with the names of people who could know more about such funds, Bacic said that he had not, "because nobody asked me about it."

Asked how come the party's bank accounts were not blocked already, Bacic said that one could not speak about the party's criminal responsibility. If an individual commits a criminal act by abusing the powers they have as a party member, responsibility is individual, Bacic said.

In all the cases when there were suspicions about the lawfulness of party operations, we provided investigating bodies with data on all financial transactions, he said.

Asked how come that Pavosevic was still employed with the HDZ, he said the party would discuss her responsibility in the coming days and decide on her employment contract.

Bacic would not comment when asked if Minister of the Interior Tomislav Karamarko would today become a member of the HDZ as claimed by the media, saying that this was not the topic of his press conference.