ZAGREB, January 22, 2020 – The Conflict of Interest Commission will inspect the information registered on the Declaration of Assets submitted by Health Minister Milan Kujundžić following media reports about his purchase of a house in Zagreb and its value.
“The Commission will launch a procedure to check the information on Minister Kujundžić’s declaration of assets and compare that with information that it will request from the authorised institutions – Tax Administration, Land Titles Department and so on,” a spokeswoman for the commission, Martina Jurišić told Hina.
If any discrepancy is identified, the commission will request the official to submit his explanation and after that the commission will decide whether there are any grounds to launch proceedings, Jurišić added.
The Telegram news portal reported that Kujundžić registered a lower value for the house he is currently living in than is realistic.
The minister claims that the house is valued at 900,000 kuna even though a loan agreement that the Kujundžić’s signed with the PBZ bank in 2010 estimated the value of the house at 2.37 million kuna and later when the loan was rescheduled, the property was appraised at 1.68 million kuna.
Kujundžić did not wish to comment on the Telegram article but said that everything was clear and transparent regarding his house and that he would inform the commission of everything when he is requested to do so.
“I’m obliged by law to answer to the commission, however, there is nothing to hide here, everything is transparent and clear. It is easy to check and see how much my wife and I earned in the past five years, just as it can be seen in my account that my savings increased by 7,000 kuna to 8,000 kuna each month,” Kujundžić told Hina.
Telegram on Tuesday reported that Kujundžić’s family bought another house in Zagreb late last year, which is owned by his wife Tatjana and that she paid 1.46 million kuna for the property located in the Zagreb suburb of Maksimir. The article however notes that it is not clear from Kujundžić’s declaration of assets where the money to purchase that real estate came from.
Kujundžić reacted saying that the transaction was transparent and lawful and that he had informed the commission of the purchase.
Kujundžić noted that the house is estimated at 195,000 euro and that he and his wife bought the house with a loan of 100,000 euro with the PBZ bank, 55,000 euro of their savings at the PBZ bank and 40,000 euro that he borrowed from friends of theirs for which he signed an agreement that was certified by a public notary and that that money was paid directly into the seller’s account.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who is currently attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, commented briefly on the entire case and said that he would meet and talk with Kujundžić on Thursday.
“I can’t much comment, I believe that he will explain everything,” said Plenković.
More news about conflict of interest issues can be found in the Politics section.
