Former Finance Minister Ivan Suker told the Zagreb County Court on Friday that after the resignation of Ivo Sanader as prime minister and leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party in July 2009, Sanader's successor Jadranka Kosor asked Suker to go to a meeting on the divestiture of the gas business from INA and that that meeting was attended by Sanader, the then Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec and the MOL director Zsolt Hernadi.
Testifying at the trial of Sanader, accused of receiving 10 million euros in bribes to enable MOL to have a dominant position in INA and to see to it that INA's loss-making gas business is divested, the witness Suker said that at one meeting the then Prime Minister Kosor had asked him to go to the HDZ headquarters to discuss with Sanader the divestiture of the gas business from INA.
At that meeting, held in August 2009, Suker said that during the difficult economic situation when the government was introducing a special crisis tax, the establishment of a separate company which would take over the gas business from INA should not be considered.
Suker said that he had told the same to Hernadi who, he said, "responded very fairly, but also recalled that there were commitments we must abide by".
In late 2009, agreement was reached to delay the transfer of the gas business from INA for one year, however a state company which was to take over that business has not yet come into operation, Suker said.
Suker said that he had been the only one at the HDZ presidency's meeting to oppose the idea of the Hungarians having five members on INA's supervisory board, two more than the government, after the amending of the shareholders' agreement between the Croatian government and the Hungarian company regarding INA. According to Suker, at that meeting Sanader asked Polancec to continue negotiating with MOL.
Although he was in favour of the same number of the government and MOL representatives on INA's supervisory board, Suker, just like other government members, voted for the amending of the shareholders' agreement at the government's meeting.
"If someone was against, they could express their opinion, but the rule was to accept the position of the responsible minister," Suker said explaining why he had eventually agreed with Deputy PM and Economy Minister Polancec's position to change the agreement, which he said was also backed by Sanader.
Asked by Judge Ivan Turudic whether it meant that given that practice the government convened only for the sake of the public, Suker said that the cabinet meetings had been held "to make decisions at them".
The defendant Sanader contested the veracity of Suker's testimony, adding that it was untrue that all decisions had been made unanimously by his cabinet.
The trial was adjourned until next Wednesday, 7 March, when former Hypo bank management board chair Wolfgang Kulterer would resume his testimony.
