ZAGREB, May 17, 2018 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Thursday called on authorities to shed light on even the smallest detail in the situation concerning the Agrokor conglomerate, saying that he has nothing to hide and that he can sleep peacefully, and proposing that the subcontracted consultants for the restructuring of Agrokor should return their fees to remove any suspicion of profiteering.
“As far as what went on after the emergency administration was appointed and the later selection of consultants, the only thing that is problematic, in my opinion, is the choice of subcontracted consultants. I call on all those concerned, and they are people with their business and human integrity, to make a gesture and, apart from the expenses and fees received by Mr Ramljak, return anything they consider to be excessive to the company or Alix Partners so that once and for all we can remove any suspicion of profiteering. This had nothing to do with me, no one asked me nor did I know who the subcontractors would be, much less how much their fees would be,” Plenković said at the end of an EU summit on the Western Balkans in Sofia.
“There is no way that I and even less the government or Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) should suffer any political damage or be held responsible for that situation. I want light to be shed on everything as so that we can see how a successful story, for various interests that are political and economical, has come to the situation that the entire process is being brought into question. I wake up peacefully every morning and I peacefully go to bed and I have no problems. I would very much like everything to be explained,” Plenković said in a rather emotional statement.
Plenković once again reiterated the chronology of the law on emergency administration in systemic companies, dubbed Lex Agrokor, saying that it wasn’t ideal but that it had to be passed in a hurry and had more time been taken they would not have managed to adopt the law before Agrokor’s collapse.
