The greatest laughs are in the statement that Premier Ivo Sanader drives a 39 year old Renault 8 Last week, all the Croatian press carried the news that the complete asset cards for 1147 state officials would be published on the website www.sukobinteresta.hr . This information was released by Josip Leko, president of the Parliamentary Conflict of Interest Board. After the “little people” reviewed the asset cards, most were astounded that they commonly have better cars and larger flats than the most powerful people in Croatia and many entertainment by the numerous absurdities found within the data. The citizens, with an average salary three times less than the average official, had a good laugh over the completely non-standardized, incomplete lists, which depict the officials in the same light as those citizens in need of social assistance.

The greatest laughs are in the statement that Premier Ivo Sanader drives a 39 year old Renault 8 while Finance Minister Ivan Suker lives with his parents and has no car at all. In order to travel, he would have to force his large stature into the small Hyundai Getz owned by his wife. Construction Minister Bozo Kalmeta certainly leads his colleagues in terms of style – he drives an Opel Corsa and a Yamaha motorcycle. SDP MP Nenad Stazic can certainly be envious, as he assessed his 1991 Hyundai at a value of only 740 kuna! However, those who read these asset cards to obtain information, other than getting a good laugh, will only be left disappointed. The officials did not take this obligation seriously and nor did those who compiled the cards do their job properly.

The cards were not compiled in a standardized form and, as such, are hard to compare. The key mistake is that there is no mention as to when the officials acquired the said assets, and there are no comparative tables or graphs to see how those assets have grown over time. The entire project was obviously conducted very unprofessionally and certain pages have “strange” information, even though these is an official Republic of Croatia website. For instance, those reading the information will be lead to believe that the parties Libra and LS still exist, those these parties disappeared with their merger with HNS or HSLS. However, a much more serious criticism is that the cards will filled in at the officials' whim and in certain cases, the official position and salary were not filled in.

The asset list states land area in various measures, some archaic, even though the metric system is the only system in use in Croatia. The value of property is also listed in numerous currencies—kuna, euro, American and Canadian dollars—even though only the kuna is the official currency in Croatia. Among those who failed to fill in the value of their property was SDP's Milanka Opancic, who simply stated that she didn't know the value of her Zagreb apartment. In some cases, only a number is given, without currency units, leaving the reader to assume whether the values are in kuna or Swiss francs.

Other officials posed true enigmas to readers—they failed to put any numbers with their property. In the column which asks how the asset was acquired, by loan, inheritance or savings, some simple stated „other“. Stjepan Fiolic, a HDZ MP, who is thought to be almost as wealthy as the wealthiest official, HNS's Radimir Cacic, was very stingy in filling out his asset card. He only stated the size of his meat plant and shop in Hrasce as 640m2, while for 5 commercial facilities, his farm in Vukovina and houses in Mala Mlaka and Odra, he mentioned neither the surface nor value. The only certain number in Fiolic's card is his 86% ownership of the Fiolic meat industry, though the value of these shares are not assessed.

On the contrary, Radimir Cacic precisely listed his share in companies and his list of assets is at least a page long. Cacic owns shares in companies such as Croatia Airlines, Erste Bank, Atlas, Kras, Varazdinska Bank and Varteks, however, the greatest value are in the companies of his Coning Group. Though he precisely stated the value of his shares, in the property section, he stated that he owns two residential spaces and an apartment, but did not note their value. Cacic is also president of the Croatian Tennis Association and has the largest salary among the county prefects—18,458 kuna. It is interesting that Cacic does not own a vehicle, but that his wife likely drives him around in her Smart.

One of the wealthiest officials is HDZ's Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Luka Bebic. In addition to 28,000m2 of land in Metkovic, valued at 300,000 kuna, he also owns a 120 m2 weekend house at Slivno worth 1.5 million kuna, a 93 m2apartment in Zagreb worth the same amount and a family home near Metkovic worth about 100,000 kuna, a fishing boat worth 10,000 kuna and a boat worth 60,000 kuna. He assessed the value of his other movable assets at 50,000 kuna and his income from the family farm at 10,000 kuna. His wife is owner of an apartment in Zagreb, land in Samobor, a personal automobile and 280,000 euro in other moveable assets.

One of the most detailed and most valuable asset cards was filled out by HDZer Kruno Peronje. His long list of assets include two houses in Jelsa with an area of 700m², assessed at 10 million kuna, and his 81.24m² apartment in Zagreb was assessed at a value of 130,000 but without units. He also has agricultural land in Jelsa and a forest, together worth 11 million kuna. He owns several commercial spaces and apartments in Split and Jelsa, worth a total of 1.6 million kuna, while his wife owns an apartment in Zagreb worth 2.5 million kuna. Another property wealthy official is HDZ MP Mario Zubovic. He reported two apartments in Zagreb with total area of 160m² at a value of 1.78 million kuna, a weekend house on Krk worth 560,000 kuna and two construction land plots in Gospic. His wife also owns another apartment worth 3 million kuna.

Minister Bozo Biskupic owns a large amount of land. He has 13,000m² of land, with no value stated, in Mala Mlaka, between Zagreb and Velika Gorica. His wife owns another 13,000m² of land in Zagreb. Biskupic owns a 780m² house and a 115m² house on the island of Brac, a 550m² house in Zagreb . However, for all this property, like his 10 year old BMW 520, he does not list any values. The origin of the assets is typical – it was all acquired “own resources, from personal income and my wife’s work abroad, property paid with loan payments, a part of property acquired through inheritance, gifts, savings and loans”. Biskupic also has a art collection of 310 graphics.

Among the SDPer, Mato Arlovic leads, with a salary of 19,277 kuna, apartments of 229 and 84m² in Zagreb and Osijek and 25,000 euro in savings. He is followed by SDP boss Ivica Racan, with 17,000 kuna in salary and a 115m² apartment.

Their colleague Slavko Linic owns several properties and a FERETTI 39 yacht, worth 500,000 but without units. HSPer Ruzica Tomasis and her husband own part of a house and land on Korcula worth 550,000 euro, and land in Canada worth one million Canadian dollars. Former Minister Miomir Zuzul also reported owning land abroad. In addition to a house in Zagreb and apartment in Dubrovnik, Zuzul listed owning a Volvo 850 and Lexus RX 470. He reported his assets in three various currencies: Swiss francs, American dollars and kuna, without listing the value of the property. DC official Nikola Ruzinski, State Secretary for the Ministry of Envionmental Protection, owns several properties though none are particularly valuable. He owns 5 apartments throughout Croatia, though the largest is 54m².

HSSer Zdravko Dijakovic has the most houses of all the opposition politicians, with 4 houses and several commercial buildings. The majority of HSSer are in rural areas and therefore have reported smaller or larger lands under their ownership. Among them is Ivan Sagi who listed several agricultural lands, forests and fields, and it is interesting that he valued 3228m² of land at only 1000 kuna and another plot of land, 5325m² at 3000 kuna. In adding these values, it turns out that Sagi’s land is worth all but 0.5 kuna per square meter, and it is certain that at that price, he will have no difficulty in finding a buyer.

However, the record in underestimation is Slaven Letica and his wife – they assessed a 100m² house in Bale in Istria at only 20,000 euro. Letica is also property wealthy, with a 165m² apartment in Zagreb, a 120m² house in his hometown Podgora and his wife has a 100m² house in Gornje Zvecaje, assess at twice the amount of the Istrian house. His asset card also lists that he is a member of the Management or Supervisory board of the Sportske novosti newspaper, a fact little known to the public.

Governor of the Croatian National Bank, Zeljko Rohatinski, who certainly knows of the value of money, has some strange financial criteria. He assessed his 63m² apartment in Zagreb at only 161,000 kuna, a little over 22,000 euro. At the current market prices in Zagreb, this amount is barely enough to buy a garage. Among officials who were thorough in filling out their asset cards was Marija Bajt, who in addition to her salary and property, listed a grave plot worth 20,000 kuna in the Varazdin cemetery. She also owns a BMW R25/2 motorcycle and she and her husband own an 80m² apartment in Zagreb valued at 120,000 euro. Her husband owns commercial space valued at 1.5 million kuna, and two houses in Pozega worth 495,000 kuna, a house in Trogir worth 1 million kuna and an apartment in Osijek worth 300,000 kuna, as well as including minor items such as a Tomos motorcycle worth 10,000 kuna. She also lists shares worth 220,000 kuna and her husband’s income in 2003 of 200,000 kuna.

There are also pure proletarians among the Croatian officials who own next to nothing. The leader in this category is Ivica Batinic who, in his asset card, explicitly listed that he owns absolutely nothing. Among the poorer officials are HNS’s Goran Djanic, who stated that he only owns a Ford delivery vehicle. It would appear that HSSer Vlasta Hubicki also lives in a car, for she only owns a 1998 VW Polo. The least wealthy is HSSer Djuro Bozic who, other than his official salary, owns nothing. HSS spokeswoman Marijana Petir also proves how hard rural life is, stating that she owns no fixed assets and only three mobile assets worth 200,000 kuna. Another proletarian is HSPer Tonci Tadic, a parliamentary MP with a PhD in physics. This father of three children explicitly states that he owns no property, has no savings and only owns a Skoda Oktavia purchased for 116,900 kuna on a loan from Volksbank. In terms of vehicles, it looks as though the HSSers are particular car lovers. The majority of their officials are auto mechanics, body shop workers or some other auto industry worker by profession.

In a review of the top six or seven parties in Croatia, HSS is weakest in terms of educational background. With the exception of their MPs and a handful of officials, virtually none have a university education, while a few are lacking secondary school education. The opposite is HNS, whose officials virtually all have university qualifications. In addition to Radimir Cacic, HNS has other wealthy officials. One is Alenka Kosisa Cicin-Sain who has four apartments, and her husband has another three. Dijana Marcijus who recently became known to the public due to her affair with her boss, Medjimurje County prefect Josip Posavac, has three apartments, one of which is 117m². She claims this property was all purchased through personal savings, unlike other officials who typically claim that their property was acquired through inheritance or marriage.

The obvious conclusion is that the publication of these asset cards has not greatly contributed to the transparency of Croatian politics and the main problem is the poor implementation of the asset list. Due to a lack of a standardized form, it is very difficult to compare assets among politicians, and it would appear that the lists given do not reflect the true situation.

One good example is Stipe Gabric Jambo, Metkovic Mayor. Though known as one of Croatia’s richest men, he did not list ownership of any of the numerous companies he is known to own. Jambo listed that he and his wife are owners of seven properties in Croatia and movable assets worth five million euro.

The illogicalities of the Conflict of Interest Act are also evident in the fact that this law does not apply to local government officials. For example, President of the Zagreb City Assembly, Tatjana Holjevac, cannot be in a conflict of interest, despite receiving 15,000 kuna of public money each month. There are also various illogicalities in officials’ salaries. For example, Darko Jukic, director of the State Statistics Bureau has a salary of 10,300 kuna, while the director of the State Institute for Radiation Protection, an institute many do not even know exists, has a salary of 13,700 kuna. This is also the wage for Ante Samodol, director of the Agency for Control of Financial Services, the body which carries out the complex task of controlling all Croatian financial institutions except banks.

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