Interior Minister Tomislav Karamarko said in a statement on Monday that the information presented in a Croatian Television talk show on Sunday was incorrect, that all accusations were groundless and that not even one indicated that he was in conflict of interest or that he abused his office.
The minister said he was releasing the statement "out of responsibility to the media and the public" in Croatia, in response to the claims the leader of the Social Development Partnership association, Munir Podumljak, made in the "Nedjeljom u 2" talk show.
Regarding the claim that he owns company stock, Karamarko said he did not own stock in any of the companies mentioned, that he never transferred management rights to the Hanzekovic law firm, and that he sold the stock he owned a number of years ago.
The minister said ownership data in Croatia was public, referring anyone interested to the website of the Register of Companies.
Karamarko went on to say that neither he nor his father owned the land mentioned in the talk show and that this land was entered into the physical plans of the town of Obrovac as construction land, in 1991, 2003 and 2009. He said all data on this could be checked in land books.
"From all this, it transpires that neither data on company stocks nor data on ownership of said land could be included in my declaration of assets," the minister said.
