"I have never taken anything for my own financial gain; you can take a look at everything I own," Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said at a press conference in Zagreb on Tuesday when asked by the press to what extent she had been involved in the financing of her own election campaigns.
"All I have to say I will say to the relevant authorities. This is a press conference, not an investigation," Kosor told reporters at the headquarters of her party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), after formally presenting an HDZ membership card to Interior Minister Tomislav Karamarko, who thus renewed his membership.
Kosor described current accusations against her party as a concerted action aimed at harming the HDZ's reputation before elections, due on December 4. She dismissed as insinuations media reports on the HDZ's slush funds, which said that the party was in disarray and torn with factional strife.
"It's part of a scenario whose aim is to spread chaos and distrust among the HDZ members," Kosor said, stressing that the HDZ remained "united and strong".
Karamarko said he had renewed his membership in order to give fresh impetus at the party level to the fight against crime and corruption.
"The HDZ is the only party that is undergoing a catharsis, and look at how others react even to the mention of crime in their ranks," Karamarko said at the press conference.
