ZAGREB, Oct 8, 2020 – Prime Minister and HDZ party leader Andrej Plenkovic has said that the Opposition has failed a law exam with its motion to form a parliamentary commission of inquiry because the motion differs from the practice so far and “envisages things that are unlawful.”
“They have put in the motion things that are unlawful such as MPs inquiring about the work of courts, the work of the State Attorney’s Office (DORH), Constitutional Court judges… they have failed the exam as regards law. As for the political aspect of the motion, we had elections only three months ago and citizens voted confidence in the HDZ. They lost the election,” Plenkovic said in an interview with Nova TV on Wednesday evening.
He noted that he would be the first to want to know where and why the information was leaked from investigations in corruption cases and whether there were things that needed fixing, wondering about the “Opposition’s surprise” that DORH, the USKOK anti-corruption office and police work in line with the law.
“Someone should explain that to them,” he said.
The Opposition’s motion was prompted by the JANAF corruption case, as part of which it has been established that three ministers in the Plenkovic cabinet visited a club run by former JANAF CEO Dragan Kovacevic, who has been arrested on the suspicion of corruption.
Plenkovic said that he had discussed the matter with the ministers.
“Where did they go? To a place run by the head of a public company, who at that time had the image of a businessman, a former candidate for Social Democratic Party leader, a man who knows all the important actors of Croatia’s political and economic life, so what should they have been wary about?” Plenkovic said.
He also commented on President Zoran Milanovic’s statements regarding the JANAF affair.
“You have the presidents’s reaction and the reaction of the Opposition who seem to be unhappy that competent state institutions work on specific cases… and wonder about their working in line with the law. And the president wonders whether someone should have known about it,” Plenkovic said, among other things.
He would not comment on Milanovic’s frequent comments that ensued after the JANAF scandal broke.
“That’s his business. Why should I get involved,” he said.
Plenkovic said that he had not spoken with the president, repeating that ambassadorial appointments were the only topic on which they should hold a meeting.
Responding to the interviewer’s remark that Milanovic thought they did not have to discuss it, Plenkovic said “Let then heads of our offices discuss it.”
Speaking of the coming local election, Plenkovic said that his party planned to come to power in at least 13 counties.
“Thirteen to fourteen county heads is our political goal,” he said, adding that the HDZ also had an opportunity to come to power in several big cities, including the biggest ones.
“Zagreb, Split and Osijek. We will, of course, run in Rijeka. As we set as our goal a few years ago, I want us to come to power in the biggest cities. We did it in the last elections in Split,” he said.
