Croatian Competition Agency head Olgica Spevec testified before the Zagreb County Court that after the agency conditionally allowed the Hungarian company MOL to gain main management rights in INA, former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader first called her on the phone and ended the conversation and then called her for talks in the government headquarters where she was expected to explain her decision.
Spevec said that she took Sanader's call, in which he said that even the government legal experts did not understand the agency's decision, during a press conference at which she was explaining the agency's decision concerning the changes in the INA shareholders' agreement between the government and MOL.
After hanging up, Sanader called her again half an hour later to tell her to come to the government headquarters and explain the decision and Spevec invited the Competition Agency legal expert Vesna Patrlj to come along.
"The meeting was pretty intense. It was not unusual for us that the government is dissatisfied with our decision, but it was awkward that the two of us (Spevec and Patrlj) were on one side while representatives of the government, including deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec, MOL and INA were on the other," Spevec said.
The lion's share of the meeting focused on the decision to have the shareholders' agreement approved on condition that Crobenz petrol stations be sold within nine months and all activities that could lead to the weakening of the INA subsidary company be banned.
Spevec said that after the meeting with a MOL executive and Polancec, she went to Sanader's office where the former PM asked her if the matter was resolved. "After two or three minutes, Sanader walked me out and apologised for the inconvenience," Spevec said.
She added that except for this one time, she was never summoned, but that the former PM had a habit of calling her concerning some agency decisions and actions.
The anti-corruption office USKOK has charged Sanader with taking a EUR 10 million bribe so that MOL could have the dominant position in INA, including the divestiture of its unprofitable gas business.
