President Milanović Comments on Arrest of Former Minister Žalac: This is the political staff of Andrej Plenković, his choice
“Gabika has fallen, Plenković’s staff. Of course, this is only the arrest, but clearly it was monitored to the last detail. In the interest of public confidence in the system, I hope that the indictment, if it is handed down, will come quickly – unlike in the ‘Slovenska’ case, where we are still waiting for the indictment,” said the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović, commenting in a statement to the press on the case of the arrest of former minister Gabrijela Žalac.
“Ms. Žalac is Plenković’s young staff, green when it comes to her experience but much darker when it comes to her morals,” said the President, adding that there are many more like Ms. Žalac and recalling that he has previously called for putting a time cap on the investigation period, which would shorten criminal proceedings. “Clearly, they don’t intend to do that. I am not referring to the process, but to the standards of the process and to the way in which it is conducted,” the President explained.
“I hope we didn’t think that so much money would come to Croatia without it being controlled. Those are huge amounts of money. Procurement of software is a necessity, without which the state cannot function today. The profits are great, but do they have to be enormous? No. As far as I understood, this is about beefing up a company with one employee. A lot is going on out there in terms of pricing, especially in regard to software,” President Milanović underscored. Asked to comment on the fact that Ms. Žalac is still a member of the HDZ Presidency, President Milanović said he did not know that she is still a member and added: “This is the political staff of Andrej Plenković. This is his choice and his choice is fantastic.”
Journalists asked President Milanović to comment on the claim made by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who said that both sides had done too little to resolve the fate of missing persons. “Vučić is not in a position to negotiate. This will either be resolved or it will not be resolved. If Serbia wants to join the European Union, it must resolve this issue. Our demands towards Serbia are minimal, but will things stay the same – with the two thousand people who we know were killed, buried in Croatia and moved to Serbia before the arrival of UNPROFOR – they will not! This will be cleared up,” President Milanović told the press.
The President also commented on the meeting of the Defense Council, the content of which was publicly discussed by the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament. “They are rambling on the content of the talks at the National Security Council and the Defense Council, which in my opinion amounts to a crime. For the first time we heard that Plenković and Parliament Speaker Jandroković dared to talk about what happened at a meeting at which not even cell phones are allowed. Jandroković is apparently the only person who did not understand that. After three hours of the meeting, the man takes out his phone and starts to type. And then he said he was not aware that was not allowed. This is only one detail having nothing to do with content, so that you can see what the security culture is of a man who runs Parliament and who calls other people trash. He fell into syncope for four hours at the session and did not open his mouth. And when he opened it, he should have been confined. Enough about what occurred at the meeting and about who forbade Robert Hranj to speak. In the end, he had to respond yesterday. Who does the public believe, Njonjo or the admiral,” the President asked.
President Milanović said once again that Croatia had decided not to invest in anything but fighter jets, which he considers a problem, “especially because, according to projections, no investments are planned in the next three years.” He reminded that the former Croatian President had repeatedly ordered the deployment of Croatian Armed Forces members across the Croatian border without a decision of the Minister of Defense. “Three times in 2015, the Croatian Army went across the border without a decision of the minister – at the request of the President, i.e. her Office and by direct order of Drago Lovrić. Once to Bleiburg with rifles and twice by helicopter to Srebrenica. You know about all that, these events are public. There are no decisions by the minister on record. In the Bugojno case, the military did not move from Croatia until the minister issued a decision on the basis of which Admiral Hranj signed the order, because without an order the military isn’t going anywhere. Earlier, the law was violated in some way or it was ignored, because why should the minister approve the President’s helicopter flight to Srebrenica,” said the President.
Asked by journalists whether he would ask for the consent of the Minister of Defense for the use of military resources, President Milanović replied: “I will not seek consent for a helicopter flight and the minister will not speak in the barracks until he returns Colonel Burčul. If necessary, I will fly as the Commander in Chief.” The President reiterated that military resources are being used for private purposes: “Absolutely, these are public affairs, the ministerial decisions that are being signed in the grey zone. I see it happening – missile and patrol boats that are being deployed for non-military purposes and are being offered for selective use. We will discuss this because it is a criminal offense.”