MINISTER AND CHIEF OF POLICE Vladimir Faber was shocked when Tomislav Karamarko informed him of his dismissal by telephoneWhen his phone rung last Monday evening, Chief of Police Vladimir Faber could not believe what he was hearing: Interior Minister Tomislav Karamarko was informing him that Premier Ivo Sanader had definitely decided to dismiss him from his post. Faber had already received similar calls from Karamarko, saying that the premier was angered by him, over his eight months in office, but this time Faber was shocked as the decision on his dismissal came suddenly and without any clear explanation. Sanader's decision aroused a similar reaction in the Croatian public: everyone was surprised by the dismissal of the man who had genuinely and decisively set off to depoliticize the Croatian police. Under his leadership, some very difficult crime cases, such as the murders of Ivana Hodak, Ivo Pukanic and Niko Franjic had been resolved in these past few months.

Many were surprised by the fact that to this day, there has been no reasonable explanation from the government as to the reasons behind his dismissal. This has also shaken up the foreign diplomats; at the end of last week, US Ambassador Robert Bradke and head of the European Commission Delegation in Croatia Vincent Degert sharply protested to Minister Jandrokovic, and asked for the reasons behind Faber's dismissal so they could inform their superiors. As Nacional has learned, they did so "sharply and roughly". This was the first time since 2000 that two representatives from the United States and the European Union had jointly intervened in the Croatian Foreign Affairs Ministry, and indicates the significance the US and EU place on this event. Western diplomatic circles are obviously wondering whether this dismissal of a successful and independent chief of police means a general turnabout in the Croatian battle against crime and corruption. Vladimir Faber himself was shocked by the news, and tried to learn more about Karamarko as to why Sanader was so dead set this time. He failed, however, to receive any concrete answer.

According to Nacional's sources, this decision also came as a surprise to Karamarko, who was against the dismissal of his close associate and long-time friend. Considering that this was not the first time Sanader had asked for Faber's dismissal, Karamarko initially though he could manage to save him once again, but last Tuesday, he realized that Sanader had no intention of backing down. For this reason, at the beginning of the week, he attempted to find Faber an alternative function, making it clear that he would not accept Sanader's request that Faber definitely be removed from the police force. At that time, Sanader and his associates agreed that Faber could receive a "ficus plant" function - to be appointed advisor to the minister. On that day, Faber informed his team at Police headquarters, and during the meeting, they allegedly proposed they give their collective resignation, which Faber quickly rejected. Last Wednesday, Karamarko and Faber rejected the degradation of the Chief of Police, particularly since the dismissal had been ordered from the top ranks of HDZ without any convincing reason. On that day, news of Faber's dismissal had reached the press, and then Faber was depicted as a threat to HDZ: while in many similar situations, the HDZ faithful quietly and calmly allow themselves to be eliminated and publicly humiliated, Faber went public and was outspoken, making four things very clear: that he had been dismissed, that he was forced to leave against his will, that there was absolutely no legitimate reason for his dismissal and, that it had been the decision of Ivo Sanader. On that day, the HDZ leadership was so mortified by Faber's public comments that they immediately launched two secret campaign: one set of Sanader's associates began directly negotiating with Faber, and offering him a notorious departure into the world of diplomacy, which he was quick to refuse.

The second set of associates were given a much more difficult task: to come up with a reason for the dismissal that could pass, but without revealing the real reasons. Someone close to Sanader came up with an exceptional spin, aimed at killing two birds with one stone: to say that the dismissal had been the request of HSS over the recent tractor protests. However, that day the government just didn't have any luck: just as Premier Sanader was landing in Brussels, a similar tractor protest was underway by the European dairy farmers. In Croatia, the HSS leaders caught on to HDZ's shady intentions and were quick to deny the allegations.

Croatian political circles have mentioned the rumors that Faber was replaced as he had allegedly protected the head of the Osijek police Tomislav Bilandzic, who had reportedly paid a visit to the fugitive Branimir Glavas in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Rounds of „consultations" were held on Thursday evening and Friday morning in which Sanader backed away from his original demand that Faber be completely expelled from the police, and then later he accepted Karamarko's proposal that Faber be appointed State Secretary. But these negotiations did not go smoothly, but the deal was struck on one condition by Sanader: the Faber immediately cease discussing the circumstances around his dismissal with the press.

Proof that Faber's dismissal shook up the Croatian public and others was also seen in the fact that two important ambassadors made appointments to meet with Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic on Friday: US Ambassador Robert Bradtke and Head of the European Commission Delegation in Croatia Vincent Degert.

OLIVER GRBIĆ His fellow colleagues hold him to be a skilled police officer, but just how obedient he will be to Sanader is questionableOn Friday, during the closed session of the government session, Sanader's decision to remove Faber was finally and formally carried out. Later, Jadranka Kosor and Tomislav Karamarko tried unsuccessfully to explain the circumstances to the press. They made the premier's shameful decision even more shameful with their tragical/comical verbal acrobatics saying that Faber was not dismissal, but was "promoted", whatever that should mean.

In a short statement for Nacional, Vladimir Faber made it very clear that he considered the government decision to be his dismissal. "There are three levels to my dismissal: the first is political, and I would prefer not to comment on that. The second is the formal and legal level, and as such, my dismissal is a legitimate decision by the government based on the law, and as a police officer, I accept that. I will continue to work in my new position and further the key reforms in the Croatian police. The third level is the real one. I still don't know the real reasons behind why I was dismissed, or promoted, and that is a question that obviously must be posed to other people," concluded Faber.

Though there have been many speculations in recent days as to the possible reasons for Faber's dismissal, the basic problem between the top ranks of the ruling party and the now former Chief of Police was the fact that he did not allow the government and HDZ to control and guide his work. Furthermore, since the very moment that he was appointed, Vladimir Faber really got on Sanader's nerves. Within the first month in their posts, Faber and Karamarko had already achieved a better public image that the premier.

Unlike Karamarko, who is quiet and keeps a low profile, Faber made frequent public appearances, often giving statements and was very clear: every statement he made, from the announced depoliticization of the police to the description of the state of the system as many years of "wrapping stinky content in cellophane", was a direct blow to HDZ and Ivo Sanader. After a series of angry phone calls from Sanader, Karamarko banned Faber from making any more critical statements in public, which the chief of police managed to keep until recently. The only exception was the case of Branimir Glavas fleeing the border into BiH. When accused that the police should have preventing his flight, Faber had no qualms about saying that the police had no legal grounds to do so, reminding that Glavas had diplomatic immunity granted by the Croatian Parliament, i.e. by the HDZ majority. Ultimately, Sanader was bothered by the fact that Faber should not even the slightest intent of turning into a faceless obedient clerk, and this brought him to the verge of an outright conflict with the government and HDZ over concrete matters: processing the „Trucks" case and appointing the new head of the Zagreb police. In both cases, Faber proved his decisiveness to independently make decisions, without any suggestions from the HDZ, which in the end cost him his job. Furthermore, even Faber's decision to not quietly go along with the political game surrounding his own dismissal have caused Sanader additional harm and more negativity for his image.

Little did the pointless claims by Deputy Premier Jadranka Kosor and Minister Karamarko help, saying that this was not a dismissal, but a "promotion". According to Nacional's sources, over the past eight months, Sanader has regretted the decision to appoint Faber as Chief of Police many times. During this period, he wanted to remove him on four occasions, but was stopped every time by the strong opposition of Tomislav Karamarko, due to fears of how this news would be taken by the Croatian public and the European diplomats. But ten days ago, Sanader decided Faber had to go, for several reasons: for months his close associates had been demanding it, and two, Faber's decisiveness to investigate Berislav Roncevic in the case of the military trucks proved that he did not want to obey the HDZ leadership, which had repeatedly told him to back off the case, and any future investigations involving members of the ruling party.

The third issue were the farmer's protests, in which Faber acted as a true legalist and did not approve attempts to stop the protests, which worried Sanader, who is expecting other protests this fall and will need an obedient police force. One of the final reasons was Faber's insistence on completely independently making personnel decisions. Sanader was allegedly bothered by the fact that, in the opinion of many, Faber had done an excellent job over the past eight months, the only problem being that many of the collateral victims were members of Sanader's party. Under Faber's leadership, many complex crimes were resolved, from the murder of Ivana Hodak, the liquidation of Ivo Pukanic and Niko Franjic and the improved involvement of the police in combating organized crime. In those eight months, Faber ordered that several HDZ-loyal police chiefs be dismissed throughout Croatia. Among others, he had planned to appoint a new chief of the Zagreb Police, to replace Branko Peran, who was only temporarily appointed. Considering that the HDZ did not have control over the Chief of Police, they decided that the least they could do was to "push through" a reliable man to run the police force in the capital city, which Faber allegedly did not allow. Peran's replacement is also now a matter of time, as last Friday, Minister Karamarko announced other personnel changes would also be made soon.

BRANKO PERAN, temporary head of the Zagreb policeThough he did not want to reveal exactly what he was referring to before the press, it is clear that Peran could be dismissed this week. There are four possible candidates to take his place: Krunoslav Borovec, Zoran Mičeno, Milijan Brkić and Mihael Varga. In any case, Sanader decided about a month ago that Faber definitely had to go, as soon as possible and with as little possible political repercussions. The opportunity arose recently, when Sanader concluded that they could use the case of under-aged prostitution in Osijek. Much of public still believes that the police failed in this case, and that the HDZ leadership concluded this was the right time to bring down Faber. They were not shaken in that decision by the fact that in this case, Faber showed a certain amount of caution towards the ruling part; according to Nacional's sources, the police could have called in for questioning a well known and high ranked member of the Osijek HDZ (person known to the Nacional editors), and whose name was mentioned in the letters of the under-aged girls in Osijek. Of course, though this man might not have been proven to have anything to do with the case, it would have certainly blemished the reputation of the HDZ.

In part, Sanader decided to do away with Faber to prove that he is still the unquestionable leader of the Croatian political scene. The first blow to his ego came from HSS, when Josip Friscic and Bozidar Pankretic made several comments at the expense of the government and Sanader during and after the tractor protests. The next blow was Dragan Primorac's decision to leave the government. According to some sources, Sanader has still not gotten over the fact that a member of his cabinet could be so disobedient and so unpredictable. The final decision on Faber's dismissal was made together with the hard-line HDZers, such as Jadranka Kosor, Luka Bebic, Vladimir Seks and Andrija Hebrang. Another person to complain to the top ranks of the HDZ was Josip Djakic, who believed according to the old party practice that he could call up the chief of police and simply dictate the names of which people should be in the top police ranks in his county.

This form of political staffing has been more the rule than the exception in recent years, though this was changed after the appointment of Karamarko and Faber. Therefore, it is no surprise that Faber has presented a significant problem for many HDZers in the past eight months. And everyone who understands how the state machinery operates is more than aware of what that means: in many cases, the state secretary is a person under direct control of Ivo Sanader and controls the minister on his behalf. The best example of this is former Foreign Affairs Minister Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who was formally at the helm of the ministry, though her superiors were state secretaries Bianca Matkovic and Hido Biscevic, both eternally loyal to Sanader. Considering that in Faber's case, he will certainly not perform such a function, it can realistically be expected that in the coming months, his job will boil down to that of Assistant to the Minister, handling tasks given to him by the minister, but without any decision-making or independence. During that time, the government and HDZ staffers Andrija Hebrang and Ivan Jarnjak, will bring the police back under their direct control by removing the people appointed by Faber, and returning "trusted" staff in their place.

VINCENT DEGERT Head of the European Commission Delegation to Croatia, photographed on a police motorcycleThe newly appointed Chief of Police, Oliver Grbic, will have a weaker role: though many have assessed that he is a skilled and successful non-partisan professional, the manner and reasons behind the dismissal of his predecessor will clearly point out which path he needs to take if he wants to keep the job. If things get even a little out of control, he could be facing that which SDPer Ranko Ostojic so graphically described: he could be dismissed „already by next Thursday at the government's telephone session". Ultimately, the tale behind Faber's dismissal will not end here, as it will become clear in the coming months just who Tomislav Karamarko and Ivo Sanader are. The first will have to prove whether or not he is ready to sacrifice his professional reputation to give legitimacy to the HDZ re-politicization of the police, while the second will, it appears, readily prove that he does not view the police as a professional apparatus for the implementation of the law, but that is exclusive objective is to stay in power, by using the means and methods so readily applied during the rule of Franjo Tudjman.