“He is not an office holder. He is a civil servant, a man who is not a member of any party, so he has nothing to do with the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) or the SDSS (Independent Democratic Serb Party). He was employed in the government through a regular job advertisement, I don’t know how many years ago. That’s not a political function,” Plenković told reporters after attending a formal session of the Imotski City Council.
During a conference-call meeting of the government on Monday, Šemper was dismissed from his post following a hit-and-run accident on Friday, in which he seriously injured a child while driving under the influence of alcohol. He has been remanded in one-month pre-trial detention, ordered due to the danger of interfering with witnesses and repeating the crime.
Plenković said it was unbelievable and unacceptable that Šemper did not stop to help the injured child, and the government reacted immediately.
“It is his personal responsibility and it has absolutely nothing to do with politics, let alone some ridiculous theories that politics would try and protect him and cover up the incident,” underscored Plenković.
When asked about Vukovar-Srijem County Prefect Damir Dekanić, who caused a traffic accident in an official car around Easter, Plenković said it was not the same because in that incident only material damage was caused.
Speaking about the death of a firefighter near Dubrovnik, Plenković expressed his condolences to the family and Dubrovnik firefighters and said that it was a great tragedy and the death of one of the best firefighters.
