ZAGREB, February 10, 2018 – The opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) agreed on Friday to pay in installments a 9.5 million kuna debt for Zagreb mayor Milan Bandić’s campaign for local elections in 2009 under a High Commercial Court ruling.
The SDP leadership negotiated in the wake of the ruling at its offices with the plaintiff, TV Sljeme co-owner Slobodan Ljubičić.
Speaking to the press afterwards, Bernardić said the SDP Presidency agreed to settle and pay the debt over six years, while Ljubičić agreed to drop another suit for 1.5 million kuna in expenses from the second round of the same campaign. Bernardić added that the party would not go bankrupt.
He said that when he was elected president a year ago, the party was 10 million kuna in the red, but that they made a restructuring plan, cutting costs by 4 million kuna last year and fiscally consolidating the party.
“Just as we succeeded once, we’ll succeed again. A period of hard work, cuts, austerity is ahead, but I am optimistic. The SDP will grow and the SDP will take responsibility for Croatia,” Bernardić said.
At the time of the 2009 local election campaign, Bandić was a member of SDP and president of the party’s Zagreb branch. A year later, he ran for president against the party’s official candidate and was evicted from the party membership. He left the party, but the debts remained.
