Committee Seeks Investigation Against Ex-Minister - Current Events - Croatia

Roncevic said he was calm and has nothing against a parliamentary investigation to clear the misgivings.

Members of the parliamentary committee for defence unanimously accepted a proposal to found an investigative committee that is to enlighten the case of acquiring 39 trucks for the Croatian Army during Berislav Roncevic’s mandate.

Justification before public

The acquirement of 39 trucks was justified with the fact that the contract was suitable because the manufacturer would acquire some parts in Croatian companies. However, that did not occur.

The SDP (Social Democratic Party) member Nenad Stazic reminded why the committee is important, mentioning the case in 2004 when the Ministry of Defence filed a competition for the acquisition of 76 trucks. 23 manufacturers responded to the competition, but because the price of the cheapest offer was three million kuna over the foreseen budget, minister Roncevic founded a special committee for the acquisition of the trucks, with the task of direct negotiations. However, the direct talks ended with the purchase of 39 trucks, whose price was 15 million kuna more than the most expensive offer for all 76 trucks.

“That unusual business was never cleared. General Jozo Milicevic, who conducted the investigation, was replaced immediately after it, and today is probably the only non-designated general in the Croatian Army.

Despite media headlines and renewed warnings by president Stjepan Mesic, the investigation in USKOK (Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime) has been lasting for four years. This is a classic case when a parliamentary investigative committee needs to be founded” concluded Nenad Stazic.

In the name of HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) Tomislav Ivic supported this initiative, just like Josip Djakic, who stressed that he considers that it is clear political games, because all of the state inspections could not solve the case in four years. He is more interested that the state secretaries from the Ministry of Defence need to explain 50 million kuna that was spent bypassing public acquisition in 2007, and they were discovered by the state revision.

After the meeting, Berislav Roncevic gave the media the statement:
“I have nothing against founding a parliamentary committee. I am calm and I will be happy if this investigation contributes to cleaning up some misconceptions.