ZAGREB, May 15, 2018 – After Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Martina Dalić resigned earlier in the day in the wake of the Agrokor email scandal, Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić on Monday called for Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s resignation, saying that charges should be pressed against all those responsible in the scandal and that a snap election should be called.
Addressing a press conference, Bernardić accused Plenković of covering up a criminal act, claiming that in normal, European countries, the prime minister’s resignation would be a matter of political responsibility.
“Today, it was confirmed that the entire time Plenković knew about the scam ‘weighing’ 500 million kuna and of the contents of the contentious emails. It is obvious that by staying quiet and not doing anything, he covered up crimes such as trading information and preferential treatment, which must be described as abuse of position and authority. Covering up incriminatory deeds by Croatian law is also a crime,” Bernardić said.
“I can say to the prime minister that this isn’t the end of this story but just the beginning. Considering that this is a public admission, I call on the State Prosecutor’s Office (DORH) to react in accordance with the Croatian law. We call for those responsible to be punished and call for a snap election,” Bernardić said.
He recalled that SDP had for a year been warning about all the irregularities and had on numerous occasions called on the relevant institutions to react with regard to the situation in the ailing Agrokor food and retail conglomerate.
“Today we witnessed an act of admission and confirmation by the prime minister and leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of everything we have been warning about over the past few months regarding the biggest corruption scandal in the history of Croatia. The Fimi-Media scandal is nothing compared to the events in Agrokor,” Bernardić said.
