Cacic has had no ownership links to Coning since 2000, when he transferred his ownership rights to a law firm, Mamic said, adding that Cacic had never been a majority owner and that he and his wife had held a stake of a little over 20 per cent.

Regarding the loan, she told reporters the Croatia Osiguranje (CO) insurance company received "a first rate bank guarantee for that loan" based on a lien on a hotel Coning owns in Trakoscan.

"There's no story here. There's no preferential interest rate nor preferential terms and CO has a first class bank guarantee," said Mamic, director of the IM&C public relations agency.

The media reported that Coning, which had its accounts blocked for seven days over the last six months, obtained a loan with a seven per cent preferential interest rate, although the normal rate is 10 per cent.

Asked to comment on the media reports, CO said that under its statute, it could not comment on its business relationships with its partners and that all legal provisions were respected in the case in question.

The HNS is part of the Kukuriku coalition which won the parliamentary election.