Minister of the Interior Tomislav Karamarko said in parliament on Wednesday that the police had already reported to the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor about the book "The Rise of Radimir Cacic in the 1990s" by Kresimir Kovac, which speaks about the privatisation of the Coning company, and that an investigation was already under way.
Karamarko was answering a question from Davor Huska of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) on the book which Huska said revealed all illegal activities in the privatisation of Coning, which were "evident and easy to check".
Josip Salapic of the HDZ wondered if it was possible to launch criminal proceedings against Cacic, who is currently standing trial before a Hungarian court for causing a traffic accident in that country with fatalities, for stating in the trial that his income was below 1,000 euros, aware that he did not have to report the income of his companies while the media claimed that Cacic owned property worth 60 million euros and a yacht which had not been reported.
Karamarko said the case in question was not one for criminal proceedings because giving a false statement before a court was punishable in case the person making the statement was a witness, expert or translator.
In this case, Mr Cacic is the accused and this rule does not apply to him, Karamarko said, adding that he believed it was rather a matter of morality.
