Croatia’s PM dismisses economy minister, adviser over alleged corruption

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic dismissed economy minister Davor Filipovic and his advisor Jurica Lovrincevic following media reports of alleged corruption and attempts to discredit the government, the government said on Wednesday, according to SEE News.

"What is clear from reports published by some media is rather simple: Lovrincevic, in his capacity as advisor to the former minister Filipovic, in fact performed acts of corruption together with certain media, and representatives of that media provided selective and tampered information to the opposition parties, which used this half-information to politically attack the government," Plenkovic said during a weekly cabinet session, as seen in an audio recording on the government's website.

On Tuesday, Nacional weekly published transcripts of an audio recording of a conversation between Lovrincevic and a reporter of Mreza TV in which Lovrincevic offered that state-owned companies and institutions run advertisements with the broadcaster, asking half of the agreed amount to be transferred to his bank account.

On Tuesday, Vecernji List daily published messages from Lovrincevic to Nikola Grmoja, a member of parliament from the opposition party Most, in which Lovrincevic was leaking insider information on the prices at which state utility HEP was purchasing natural gas from oil and gas group INA.

"The messages and recordings, which have been published confirm that Lovrincevic, as an advisor, not only gave out state money to certain media but provided them with information that was later used politically against the government," Plenkovic added.