The chairman of the supervisory board of the state-run Plinacro gas pipeline operator, Ivo Druzic, said on Friday that he had never discussed either with Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic or with the premier's chief-of-staff Tomislav Saucha the topic of hiring lawyers for Plinacro, and he does not know Mrs. Ivana Saucha, who is a lawyer, and that his only contact in the law firm, engaged by Plinacro, was Mladen Prka whom he knew personally and whom he described as a highly professional lawyer.
Druzic held a news conference in the company's headquarters in relation to the latest developments surrounding Plinacro including media speculation about alleged connections between the premier's chief-of-staff and the engagement of the law firm where his wife works for the needs of Plinacro.
PM Milanovic told reporters on Thursday he did not accept the resignation which his chief of staff Saucha offered on Wednesday evening following media reports that he had rigged a contract with the state-owned gas company in favour of a law firm where Saucha's wife works. The PM insisted that Saucha was not guilty of anything.
The PM said Saucha had not even been aware of the contentious contract. "He had no idea, and I had even less," Milanovic said.
The contentious contract was signed between the 'Gajski, Prka, Saucha i Partneri' law firm, where Ivana Saucha holds a 23 per cent share, and Plinacro at the specific request of Plinacro Supervisory Board president Ivan Druzic.
Milanovic said he was unable to reach Druzic, although he called him about two dozen times yesterday. Druzic will have to explain to the public what really happened, even though the decision to hire the law firm was a collective decision of the Supervisory Board, the PM said yesterday.
During his news conference on Friday, Druzic extended apologies to everyone who could not reach him in the last two days, and explained that he had not been available "for private reasons" that had nothing to do with Plinacro.
Druzic, who was appointed the supervisory board's head a year ago, said that upon its appointment, the new supervisory board found itself in situations when it had to make a series of relatively delicate business decisions within a limited time span, which was why they had hired an independent private law firm to assess possible legal consequences of certain decisions.
In this context, he described lawyer Prka as a man whom he could believe and for whom he was sure that he would make correct decisions.
As for the speculations that he was an official of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP), Druzic explained that he used to be a high-ranking SDP official from 1990 to 1994, but since 1994 he was no more a member of any political party,
Therefore, he considers his engagement to be based only on his know-how and being without any political motives.
Druzic declined to answer questions from the press, including the one on how much Plinacro paid tor hire the said law firm.
