Croatia's Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Darko Milinovic on Thursday dismissed media reports that he received money from a secret fund which reportedly existed under the political auspices of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, adding that during the three years of his term as Health Minister his ministry had not done any business with the Fimi Media marketing company or any other agency mentioned in the context of corruption scandals in the last year and a half.
"I don't know of any secret funds, and if I did, I would report it. If Sanader had stolen HRK 100, I would have reported it," Milinovic said at a news conference at his ministry.
He said that the former PM had not asked him either directly or indirectly to sign contracts with anyone and that as far as he knew, he was not under investigation by the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK).
Milinovic said that he had talked with Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor today, that he enjoyed her full support and was proud of having remained "untouched by (corruption) scandals, considering that I control funds in the amount of HRK 23 billion in my ministry".
