Commission Will Last As Long As The Government

Democratic Centre president commented on the corruption and crime in public procurement at a press conference held earlier today.

At a press conference held today in the Democratic Centre offices, party president Vesna Skare-Ozbolt commented on the corruption and crime in public procurement and consequently mentioned the work of the State Commission for the Supervision of Public Procurement. Goran Matesic is the president of the Commission.

"The present miry condition suits the Government"

DC president made special mention of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, which she marked as the leader on the list of the fraudulent operations related to bidding in the public procurement sector.

"The new law on the processes of public procurement has been in effect for three years already, but the Government keeps avoiding presenting it because the present miry condition suits them," she concluded. 

"It is a public secret that public procurement processes are not transparent. It is not natural that tax payers have no information on how the money from the state budget is spent," Skare Ozbolt pointed out. 

As a special problem, she mentioned the small number of complaints made by public bidders who suspected the legality of the bids, all out of fear of losing the future deal. 

The president of the opposition party also mentioned the case of the renovation of the Dalmacija hotel in Makarska, when the annulment of the renovation bid had been neglected, to which none of the bodies in authority had reacted. 

What is the key to success 

"For all these reasons, DC proposes the founding of a control office for public procurement that would be led by people who are not politicians and who would exercise control over every public bid. This is the key to success," said Skare-Ozbolt on the new proposal that DC will present in Parliament.

Control offices would prevent public bid operations going to companies which cannot perform those operations, based on the number of employees and other references, in spite of the fact that their offer is the most affordable.

Vesna Skare-Ozbolt assessed that the work of the State Commission for the Supervision of Public Procurement was also corrupt and its president, Mr. Matesic, a political person who will step down from the position when the current Government's term ends. 

DC president commented on the results of the Commission that annuls more than 50% of the bids to which people filed complaints by saying that this referred to the 50% of the less relevant bids. 

"The State Commission is a political commission that annuls the less important bids and that has offered no initiative in regard to the passing of the Law on the public procurement process," said the president of the opposition party. 

The State Commission president Goran Matesic did not wish to comment on the statements made by Vesna Skare-Ozbolt.