ZAGREB, January 23, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that the 'Tolušić case' was the most perfidious attempt to compromise and destabilise government so far, dismissing insinuations that this was a "PR attempt" by the ruling coalition to divert attention from other topics.
"We have already seen fabricated text messages between state prosecutors, judges, prime minister, deputy prime ministers, but we haven't seen anything like this before," Plenković said at the start of a cabinet meeting, saying that that the attempt to fabricate compromising photographs of deputy prime minister and Economy Minister Tomislav Tolušić was the main topic over the past several days.
Plenković said he was particularly surprised by the comments of some political stakeholders and some media who claim this is all part of "the PR attempt to divert attention from some other topics." We are not that creative and we are not into business of doing that, Plenković said.
The prime minister stressed that everyone in the government was outraged by the attempt to besmirch Minister Tolušić, which objectively could have had serious consequences for his private life as well. "This deserves strongest condemnation and of course, I expect the authorities to find the perpetrator and discover their motive," Plenković said.
The prime minister added that regardless of all attempts to destabilise the authorities, the government would continue to do its job.
In the end he thanked the owner and editor in chief of the Nacional weekly who published the information about the Tolušić case, acted reasonably and informed the Security and Intelligence Agency about it immediately, which soon after that established that it was a doctored photo..
The Nacional weekly on Tuesday ran an article under the headline "A hooker and cocaine in professional set-up against Tomislav Tolušić". The article is accompanied by fake photos aimed at discrediting the minister. The weekly claims that the photomontage showing Tolušić with a prostitute and cocaine was aimed at discrediting and politically destroying Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Minister Tolušić. The weekly said it had obtained the photos from an anonymous source.
The Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA), which has also received the photos in the meantime, has found them to be fabrications. Other minister also condemned the fake photographs.
More news on the agriculture minister can be found in the Politics section.
