Social Democrat (SDP) member of parliament Zeljko Jovanovic said in parliament on Wednesday that the leadership of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was a criminal group in terms of political responsibility, prompting session chair Vladimir Seks to deny him the floor for making what he called a slanderous statement.
Speaking during Question Time, Jovanovic asked Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor if she would resign over holding a secret meeting with former Deputy PM Damir Polancec, charged with having headed a "criminal group" in his capacity as Deputy PM.
"The prime ministers of normal and decent countries do not hold secret meetings with people indicted for heading criminal groups. If they do meet with them in secret, once it is revealed, they resign. Will you?," Jovanovic said.
"I know you would like that to happen, because you know that it would mean the end of investigations, as there would no longer be any political will for them, but I won't resign. We will continue with investigations even more strongly, including those into the Rijeka market case, Daimler, and everything else state institutions uncover," Kosor replied.
"You are criticising me because you fear that we could come to some of your doors," she added.
She also said that at the time when she met with him, Polancec was an indictee in some cases, while in some others he was a suspect, but that SDP officials were meeting normally with SDP MP Zoran Vinkovic, who was indicted for abuse of office.
Dissatisfied with the answer, Jovanovic responded that in his testimony before the parliamentary commission investigating the privatisation of the INA oil company, Polancec revealed that the HDZ leadership had made all important decisions in the case.
"His testimony confirms that the HDZ leadership is a criminal group, in terms of political responsibility, and that it should be removed from power as soon as possible and kept as far from it as possible," Jovanovic said, provoking a heated response from HDZ benches and session chair Seks.
SDP MP Nenad Stazic quoted newspaper articles saying that four business people had paid the HDZ 600,000 kuna in exchange for getting lucrative jobs, asking Kosor whether and when her party would return that money.
The HDZ will not be tried by the SDP, Kosor said in response to the question from Stazic, who cited an alleged statement from an executive of the Zagreb company Monting PIM, Ljubo Busic, published in a daily, that four business people had collected HRK 150,000 each and given it to the HDZ in exchange for lucrative jobs.
"I didn't know that you are an investigator for USKOK," she told Stazic, adding that only USKOK investigators could be familiar with classified information in investigations.
She then asked Stazic if he would pay back into the budget funds that were spent to drive him around Brijuni islands on a military boat.
Commenting on newspaper reports that he travelled aboard a military boat in the Brijuni archipelago together with his party colleague Milanka Opacic, Stazic said that President Ivo Josipovic had approved his request to visit the island of Vanga in the Brijuni archipelago aboard an army boat as the island could not be accessed any other way but with an army vessel.
