The Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, dismissed today the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Davor Filipović, as his adviser was at the center of the affair, it was announced in Zagreb.
The government's press service announced that with this, Jurica Lovrinčević ceased to be a special adviser in the cabinet of the minister, and he was also dismissed from all the positions to which the government appointed him at the telephone session of the government.
These shifts followed after the weekly Nacional announced that the special adviser to Minister Filipović offered the local television network Mreža TV to lease advertising space for a large number of state-owned companies and institutions.
The promised payments for the lease of advertising space were over 200.000 euros, and he, as stated, in return asked to be paid half of the anticipated money in the return transaction.
Along with the text, the newspaper Nacional also published an audio recording of the conversation between Lovrinčević and a journalist from Mreža TV.
Deputy Prime Minister Branko Bačić from the ruling Croatian Democratic Union told reporters earlier today that Lovrinčević's career in the government is over if it turns out that Nacional's allegations are true.
Through Linkedin, Lovrinčević denied Nacional's allegations, writing that he "never took or asked for a commission, bribe, 'envelope' or 'kickback'".
"Nor do I have the need to take it because it is common knowledge that I do not lack money and I acquired my property on the market and duly paid taxes and duties on everything, and also such a procedure is contrary to the principles by which I live and work all my life," he wrote , among others, Lovrinčević.
The Office for the Fight against Corruption and Organized Crime announced that it was investigating the case after Nacional submitted the footage and documentation available to them.
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