ZAGREB, February 19, 2019 - The leader of the opposition GLAS party, Anka Mrak-Taritaš, on Tuesday apologised for her failure to state in her declaration of assets that she had received a remuneration of 38,950 kuna (5,200 euro) for sitting on an examination commission during her term as Construction Minister from mid-November 2012 to mid-January 2016.
This omission is now being dealt with by the Conflict of Interest Commission, after the case was reported to it in December 2018. Mrak-Taritaš believes that the purpose of raising this matter now is to smear her reputation.
The Jutarnji List daily reported on Tuesday that during her term as Construction Minister Mrak-Taritaš appointed herself the head of the ministry's commission for organising state qualifying exams and did not report the remuneration for that job in her declaration of assets. She issued an apology on her Facebook account for the omission in the declaration of assets.
Mrak-Taritaš said in her apology she is sorry to see that the issue has been raised now instead of as soon as she finished her ministerial term. She said she will submit all the relevant documentation to the Conflict of Interest Commission.
She said she had received a monthly remuneration of 800 kuna as the head of the commission for state qualifying exams, and that the reason for the omission was the fact that this income was paid by the ministry which also paid her monthly salaries.
She dismissed the claim that she had appointed herself to the post of the commission's head, adding that she and other members of the commission had been appointed by her predecessor in the ministerial post, Ivan Vrdoljak. As soon as she became the minister, she signed the appointment as the continuation of the commission's work, according to her explanation on her Facebook account.
More news on the GLAS party can be found in the Politics section.
