ZAGREB, March 27, 2019 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Tuesday declined to comment on the arrests of former executives of the Uljanik shipbuilding group made earlier in the day or say if he preferred restructuring or bankruptcy for Uljanik, saying only that the topic would be discussed on Wednesday.
“As Prime Minister I do not want to comment on any proceedings… police and prosecutorial authorities have been working on the case for several months, I believe they are doing their job very thoroughly in a case that is not simple,” he said in a brief comment on the arrests.
Local police and prosecutors on Tuesday morning started an operation in Istria, searching homes and business offices in an investigation covering 12 former executives of the ailing Uljanik shipbuilding group.
Asked about criticism from opposition SDP party leader Davor Bernardić as well as the opposition Živi Zid party that state institutions acted on his request and that the arrests had occurred in the week when the government was expected to make a decision on Uljanik’s fate, Plenković asked “Is that the same gentleman who criticises the Chief State Prosecutor’s Office for not doing anything?”
“He is unworthy of my comment,” he added.
Plenković also would not say which solution for Uljanik he preferred – bankruptcy or restructuring, saying only: “We will have the last discussion on the matter tomorrow and you will be informed accordingly.”
Anto Nobilo, who is defending a former president of the management board of the Uljanik shipbuilding group, Gianni Rossanda, said after his client was questioned by the police in Rijeka on Tuesday afternoon that Rossanda doesn’t consider himself guilty and that he refused to make a statement to the police.
Nobilo said that he could not release any details of the questioning as the police investigation under way was confidential. Due to the complexity of the case, Rossanda refused to make a statement but once we’ve examined the file, we will start presenting our defence, Nobilo said.
Nobilo believes that the investigation which led to the arrests of 12 people earlier in the day has achieved a political goal, adding that this week the government will announce that the Uljanik group and its shipyards have to file for bankruptcy, thus launching the campaign for European elections.
Asked by reporters whether that meant that the government had ordered the USKOK anti-corruption office to launch the operation, Nobilo said that that was obvious.
He said that the police were lying when they spoke about HRK 1.2 billion having been embezzled but would not say if the amount in question was lower or higher.
Rossanda will remain in custody until Wednesday, when he will be questioned at the Rijeka County Prosecutor’s Office.
Maksimilijan Percan, president of the management board of the 3. Maj shipyard, which is part of the Uljanik group, was also brought to the police station in Rijeka this afternoon for questioning.
Union leader Juraj Šoljić of the 3. Maj shipyard said on Tuesday that he supported activities launched by the police and other state institutions in order to determine where the money of that Rijeka-based dock as well as funds for its restructuring had ended up, and he called on the government to make decisions that would enable the continuation of production at the dock.
Anti-corruption investigators in Rijeka have been investigating for several months possible unlawful activities in the Uljanik shipbuilding group of which 3. Maj is part and in cooperation with the Rijeka County Prosecutor’s Office early on Tuesday morning they launched an operation in which 12 people were arrested on suspicion of defrauding the Rijeka shipyard and the state budget.
Šoljić said that union representatives in the shipyard welcomed the operation and expected it to help determine where budget funds for the shipyard, intended for its restructuring, had ended up. “We have heard media reports saying that the leading people of the shipyard’s former and current management have been arrested. Two years ago, I left the shipyard’s supervisory board as the workers’ representative exactly because of such indications and because I didn’t agree with the way the dock was managed and supervised,” said Šoljić.
He stressed that 3. Maj was sold to the Pula-based Uljanik in 2013 and that at the time it was financially rehabilitated, while its collapse, in terms of both personnel and finances, happened over the past five years.
“I call on the government to redress that injustice. It should adopt a decision as soon as possible enabling the payment of 3. Maj workers’ wages, redressing of the injustice done to the dock and the continuation of the dock’s operations, with the state as its owner, that is, either through CERP (Restructuring and Sale Centre) or the Jadranbrod shipbuilding corporation,” said Šoljić.
Asked about the amount the shipyard and the state budget had been defrauded of, Šoljić said that the state had provided 847 million kuna for the restructuring of 3. Maj.
More news on Croatian shipbuilding industry can be found in the Business section.
