The latest scandal reaches the prime minister.
Index.hr released new Agrokor emails this morning, proving that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković was informed that the so-called “Borg group” was writing Lex Agrokor. Indeed, it seems that Plenković met with the groups’ members, reports Index.hr on May 17, 2018.
Index says that Prime Minister Plenković’s claims that he did not know about all the processes within the Borg group and that he did not participate in its work are not true. Moreover, Plenković himself asked the group members to meet with him “related to the topic they are working on,” according to an email written by now-former Economy Minister Dalić on 5 March last year.
“The Prime Minister asks you to come to the government tomorrow at 3.30 pm regarding the topic we are working on. I hope you will manage,” Dalić wrote in an email which included not just members of the Borg group, but also Finance Minister Zdravko Marić.
The meeting reportedly discussed the situation in Agrokor, as well as the future law which was being drafted. The meeting was a reason why lawyer Boris Šavorić, a member of the group, delayed his flight to London that day.
The second meeting with the prime minister followed on 23 March, one week before the government adopted Lex Agrokor. The proof is again an email written by Dalić that morning. “PM will let us know when we can meet today. Please bear in mind that it will be today afternoon,” wrote Dalić. The PM is obviously an abbreviation for the prime minister.
The meeting was initially supposed to take place at 3.30 pm after the third version of the law was prepared. But, it was postponed for 5 pm, since the cabinet session that day ended later than expected.
After that meeting, the official communication with the prime minister’s office started. One of the channels of communication was Plenković’s advisor Dubravka Vlašić Pleše, who received the final draft of the law just a few hours before its adoption. That email was sent by Branimir Bricelj from Altera Corporate Finance. In addition to other members of the group, the recipients of the email included Dalić and State Secretary at the Justice Ministry Sanja Mišević.
Reacting to the latest revelations, the government unofficially said that the emails confirm that the government selected an option which ensured the continuation of Agrokor’s business operations without the state’s financial support. It added that the emails proved that the consultants would be paid by Agrokor and that there would be no cost for the state.
The main issue in the scandal is the fact that the same people who wrote the law, the members of the so-called Borg group, later allegedly used its provisions to receive tens of millions of kuna in fees as Agrokor’s consultants.
