Karamarko in conflict of interest in case of Croatia's withdrawal from arbitration with MOL

The Commission for Deciding on Conflicts of Interest decided on Wednesday by a majority vote that the First Deputy Prime Minister and HDZ leader Tomislav Karamarko was in conflict of interest due to expressing personal views and proposals for Croatia's withdrawal from arbitration with MOL, especially at the Cooperation Council meeting, due to the business relationship between his wife Ana and his friend, advisor to the Hungarian oil company MOL, Josip Petrović, and the positions he held as an official regarding the arbitration proceedings between INA and MOL, writes Index.hr, reports Patria.

It was also determined that Karamarko is in a situation where private interests may influence his work in the Government, and it is stated that he must not participate in decision-making regarding the INA-MOL arbitration.

The Commission was determining whether Karamarko was in conflict of interest because the company "Drimia", owned by his wife Ana, had a contract with Petrović's company "Peritus Savjetovanja" for two years, in the period after Karamarko took over the leadership of HDZ, and before he came to Banski dvori, and because he is friends with Petrović, who is a representative and advisor to MOL, with whom Croatia is in two arbitration proceedings.

The case was presented to the Commission members by Davorin Ivanjek, and Boris Spudić recused himself from the decision-making as he was Karamarko's advisor when he was the Minister of the Interior.

The Commission concluded that Karamarko is in a situation where his private interests may affect his impartiality in performing the duties of the First Deputy Prime Minister, and thus in a situation of possible conflict of interest under Article 2, Paragraph 2, Point 3, due to which he cannot participate in the arbitration between the Republic of Croatia and MOL, nor in making other decisions related to INA.

By failing to declare that before taking office as First Deputy Prime Minister, there were relationships connecting Karamarko with Josip Petrović, who performs a number of jobs for MOL, Karamarko did not act in accordance with the obligation to preserve his credibility and public trust, nor in accordance with the conscientious, responsible, and impartial performance of the duties of the First Deputy Prime Minister, and thus violated the principles of conduct from Article 5, Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 4 of the Law on Prevention of Conflicts of Interest - it is stated in the explanation.