Tihomir Orešković will return to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in Amsterdam, but will not be allowed to make business decisions concerning Croatia.
After a short career in Croatian politics and a prime-ministerial term which lasted just nine months, Tihomir Orešković has returned to Teva, a large pharmaceutical company and owner of Croatian pharmaceutical leader Pliva, where he worked before he surprisingly became Prime Minister in January, reports 24sata.hr on January 4, 2017.
The information was confirmed by Paul Williams, a spokesman for Teva. “We can confirm that Tihomir Orešković has rejoined Teva in Amsterdam. Mr. Orešković will have a senior role in our global financial operations, but will not be involved in decisions affecting our business in Croatia”, said the Teva spokesman.
On Tuesday evening first reports appeared that Orešković had left Zagreb for Amsterdam to take up the new position. However, despite leaving politics, Orešković has not declined official security protection which he can have for six months after leaving office. According to unofficial sources, two employees of the Police Directorate for Special Security also went to Amsterdam. Orešković himself left Zagreb by plane, while the two bodyguards travelled by car and met up with him in the Netherlands. As a former prime minister, Orešković has the right to be protect until 19 April 2017. He had the possibility to decline the protection, but he decided against it. However, there is still an option that Orešković could change his mind and decline protection services at the expense of Croatian citizens.
According to unofficial information, Orešković will spend weekdays in Amsterdam and on weekends returned to Zagreb to be with his family. The Orešković family has bought an apartment in the Zagreb city centre just before he became Prime Minister. The apartment has an area of 284 square metres and its value is estimated at 5.5 million kuna, which was paid without a loan. Orešković’s wife Sanja reportedly was not pleased with life in Amsterdam, so this time she will remain living in Zagreb with their children.
Former Prime Minister’s new job also opens a question of possible conflict of interest. According to law, he cannot be a member of a board of directors or a supervisory board, but he can be named to a high management position, for example, as an executive or financial officer. Since Teva is the owner of Pliva, which has business relations with the Croatian state bodies, it is somewhat of a gray area.
Interestingly, despite his personal relative wealth, Orešković decided to use another right as a former high-ranking official and continued to receive prime-ministerial salary of 21,924 kuna after he left office. The government announced that Orešković used the right to receive the salary from 20 October to 31 December.
