Chairperson Dalija Orešković confirmed that the Commission had received three complaints against President Grabar-Kitarović due to circumstances of her visit to the United States.
Three formal complaints have been submitted to the Commission for Conflict of Interest Prevention against Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović due to her unexplained visit to the United States which is expected to end on Thursday, reports Večernji List on January 4, 2017.
Chairperson of the Commission for Conflict of Interest Prevention Dalija Orešković has confirmed that they have received three complaints and that the Commission would check whether there is any reason for proceedings to be continued. She said that the three complains were more or less identical in their content. They call on the Commission to determine whether President’s visit to the United States represents a violation of the Law on Conflict of Interest Prevention.
The problem is that it is not known whether it is a private visit paid from the state budget, or whether it is truly an official visit, with precise protocol and accompanying circumstances which a presidential visit includes, said Orešković.
“The circumstances of the visit are not known, and from what has been publicly reported it is not clear whether it is a private or an official trip”, explained the Chairperson, adding that the Commission had requested from competent state bodies to submit relevant information and documentation.
Once it receives the requested information, the Commission will meet in a public session to discuss whether there are any grounds or reasons to initiate formal proceedings in this case. “At this point, it is not possible to know or prejudge anything”, said Orešković, who did not specify what documents were sought and from whom, as well as when the decision in the case could be reached.
The law does not allow the Commission to announce the identity of persons who have filed the complaints, but the media reported that one of them is a columnist for Index.hr website Goran Vojković.
Questions about the President’s trip appeared after it was announced on New Year’s Eve that the President would visit the United States from 1 to 5 January. No programme of her activities has been announced, and it is not clear who is accompanying the president, whom she will meet while in the United States, and even which city she is visiting. No statements about her activities in the last few days have been issued by Office of the President.
At the time when her visit was first announced, there were reports that the President might meet with members of US President-elect Donald Trump’s team, but her Office did not confirm those reports.
UPDATE: Office of the President issued a statement on President’s trip to the United States. “President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović has travelled in an official capacity to the United States, together with her Head of Cabinet Natalija Hmelina. During her stay in the United States, President will have meetings with political and other officials, as well as representatives of civil society. President travelled to the United States using regular commercial flight”, announced Office of the President on Wednesday afternoon.
