Problems for Živi Zid and its coalition partners continue.
Co-leader of Živi Zid and one of their 8 newly-elected MPs Hrvoje Runtić accused the party leadership for trying to bribe him after he accidentally saw envelopes with money from donors who are not listed on official party donors list at the party headquarters, reports Index.hr on September 18, 2016.
“I accidentally saw something that I was not supposed to see. Under the cover of night, the yellow envelopes arrived to the Živi Zid headquarters. In order to ‘neutralize’ me, they sent Ivan Lovrinović, who is the president of Let’s Change Croatia party and one of Živi Zid’s coalition partners, and a public relations representative for the party to give me a lecture about the importance of the so-called ‘third way’ in Croatian politics, saying that I should not do anything to jeopardize it. The PR representative made me an offer which they probably through I could not refuse: ‘At the end of the campaign, you will receive 100,000 kuna, and until then 500 euros per week to cover your costs’”, said Runtić in an interview for Jutarnji List on Sunday.
Runtić declined to reveal who sent the envelopes with money and where the money ended up, adding that he would leave those question for the police and the Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime to answer.
Runtić is in conflict with the leading three members of Živi Zid, Ivan Vilibor Sinčić, Ivan Pernar and Vladimira Palfi, accusing them for being preoccupied with greed and delusions. All of them have been elected as MPs at recent parliamentary elections.
The party published a post on Facebook saying that, so far, no member of Živi Zid Main Committee “has responded to hundreds of lies that are being circulated nor has anybody started legal proceedings”. However, they added that it was now time for courts to address the slander because it is obvious that the attacks would not stop. The post also said that it was time for the party to defend itself from terror. “Now, it is not only us who are the targets. Ivan Lovrinović and our PR team are now being attacked, as well as everybody who has any connection with us”, said the party in the post.
In a statement on Sunday, Lovrinović rejected Runtić’s accusations, adding that Runtić was trying to destabilize their coalition after the excellent result in the elections. “Runtić has apparently become the weakest link in Živi Zid”, added Lovrinović. He said that the accusations were “ridiculous and not worthy of comment”.
Živi Zid has won 8 seats in Parliament in recent elections, together with their coalition partners, Let’s Change Croatia party and the Franak Association. Since the elections, members of the party have been accusing each other of various irregularities, and the media reported that party leader Sinčić for still unknown reasons tried to found another party with a very similar name.
