Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told reporters on Thursday he did not accept the resignation which his chief of staff Tomislav Saucha offered on Wednesday evening following media reports that he had rigged a contract with the state-owned gas company Plinacro in favour of a law firm where Saucha's wife works.
The PM told today's news conference he did not accept the resignation as Saucha was not guilty of anything.
"I will not accept the resignation as it is unfounded. It was submitted in an attempt not to harm the government's reputation, but the government's or Saucha's reputations have not been harmed," the PM said, adding that 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.
Even if he had known about it, Tomislav Saucha formally is not in a position to make a decision, but he did not know about it, the PM reiterated.
Commenting on a reporter's remark that the law on the prevention of conflict of interest is very clear and that it stipulates that in situations when a state official and a person close to them, such as a wife, is doing business with a public company, must seek the opinion of the Conflict of Interest Commission, Milanovic said this was not a question but a "legal analysis".
