ZAGREB, Dec 15, 2020 – Speaking to reporters after his release from custody on Tuesday afternoon, the former CEO of JANAF oil pipeline operator, Dragan Kovacevic, said he had not stolen “a single penny” and that he would prove his innocence in court.
“I come from a relatively wealthy Slavonian family, I didn’t grow up poor. This is not an easy thing to go through when you know that you are not responsible, but I will prove my innocence in court,” Kovacevic said.
Speaking of what the media have described as his club in Zagreb’s Slovenska Street, which was frequented by numerous state officials and business people, Kovacevic said that it was not a club but an association called “Slavonska ravnica” (Slavonian plain), where people hailing from Slavonia used to gather.
“It is a room measuring 25-30 square metres whose visitors brought food with them. Everyone went there, your colleagues as well, it was a place for socialising, it was not an elite club,” Kovacevic told reporters, adding that nobody had brought money to the facility.
President was telling the truth
Kovacevic also dismissed media reports that before his arrest he had thrown his mobile phone into the Sava River, stressing that he could not have even imagined that he would be arrested.
He explained that the million euros found in his garage was the money of his business partners intended for the purchase of 250 hectares of land in Slavonia.
“I was supposed to go to Slavonia and exchange the foreign currency… In order to buy such land, you must buy a lot of small plots from a large number of people for €1,000 or so,” Kovacevic said.
Asked about the nature of his relationship with President Zoran Milanovic, Kovacevic said that their relationship was correct and that “the President spoke the truth.”
He added that he would continue his legal battle to prove his innocence.
“In Croatia, success is the biggest sin. I had to be destroyed because I was a successful manager who carried out reforms,” said Kovacevic.
