Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic ordered the Finance Ministry on Thursday to make an analysis as quickly as possible which will show if there were omissions in the appraisal of a property for an emergency medical care institute in Sisak-Moslavina County which the state prosecutor's office contends was overpaid, accusing prefect Marina Lovric Merzel.
"This is about the government's credibility and citizens' trust in the system," he said at the beginning of a government session. As announced last night after a session of the presidency of his Social Democratic Party, Milanovic asked the Finance Ministry to determine under which criteria the Tax Administration adopted a decision on the appraisal of said property.
The anti-corruption office USKOK suspects Lovric Merzel of overpaying for the building. She signed a HRK 9.8 million contract for the property with a company owned by Bernard Popec on 30 May 2012, whereby he made at least HRK 4.2 million in illegal gain.
Milanovic said the Tax Administration was under the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry, and therefore himself, and that citizens' trust in the Tax Administration must be beyond question. "Those who undermine that trust should be removed from the system and one doesn't wait for court decisions for that. We act on our own, it's our responsibility towards citizens."
He said the Finance Ministry should "explain both to us and the public why something was appraised to this and not that amount. If the answer isn't satisfactory, those responsible will be punished." Especially so, he added, because in the case in question the Tax Administration adopted a document on the appraisal of the property several times.
"The Tax Administration is as important as the most important institutions in the state," Milanovic said.
(Hina)
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