An unusual departure for the Croatian police.
In early August, Commission for Management of Properties Owned by the Republic of Croatia, chaired by deputy prime minister and interior minister Ranko Ostojić, made an unusual decision: it gave the approval to the Ministry of Interior to use Villa Costabella for commercial and tourist purposes, reports Poslovni.hr on November 4, 2015.
It is one of less known state villas, owned by the Ministry of Interior and used for official purposes. It is situated at an attractive site by the sea between Rijeka and Opatija, and is locally known as Villa Capone. Little is known about who officially uses this facility, except that in the 1990s the family of then Croatian president Franjo Tuđman stayed there. Two years ago, the current prime minister Zoran Milanović and his family also spent some time there.
However, the very idea that the Ministry of Interior would put a residential villa on the market is a surprise, especially since ministries usually do not deal with such matters. The decision does not specify how the commercialization of the property will be carried out, but states that the villa would be used for commercial purposes only when it is not used for official stays. The Interior Ministry was not willing to provide more information, but have referred all inquiries to the Agency for Commercial Services (AKD), a company which is under the Ministry’s jurisdiction and which has been entrusted with the management of Villa Costabella since 1995.
AKD is a state-owned company which produces ID cards, passports and other documents, smart cards, government stamps, postage stamps, diplomas and other such special products. The company has about 300 workers and is led by director Anita Perković-Škalić. AKD responded that the commercialization of Villa Costabella has been under consideration since 2013. The aim is to rationalize the maintenance costs, but the details have not been disclosed. However, according to available information, it seems that the project is still in its early phases, since AKD claims that “the means for commercialization of Villa Costabella are subject of further elaboration”. AKD revealed that the company is considering the possible establishment of a special company devoted to tourism activities.
Since the villa has not been categorized, at this moment AKD cannot provide estimate of expected revenues from commercialization. But, in the last 20 years, the company has invested 1.33 million kuna in the maintenance of Villa Costabella. No answer was given to questions about the current official use of Costabella, who are the users and how often the villa is occupied.
