Politics

SDP Leader Says Will Donate Money From LAFHA to Charitable Cause

By 20 February 2022
SDP Leader Says Will Donate Money From LAFHA to Charitable Cause
Image: Peda Grbin/Facebook

ZAGREB, 20 Feb 2022 - The Social Democratic Party (SDP) president, Peđa Grbin, said on Sunday that 50,000 kuna (€6,700), which is equivalent to the sum he has received as a member of parliament through Living Away From Home Allowance (LAFHA) since 2016, would be donated to the charitable cause.

During his interview with the HTV national television, Grbin admitted that it was not fair to keep that money and that it was wrong of him to accept that allowance after he married his wife in 2016 and started living together both in Pula and Zagreb.

The case of LAFHA for the SDP chief grabbed the media limelight after it was revealed that Grbin did not live only in his hometown of Pula, and that his family is now staying in Zagreb where he intends to enroll his child in a kindergarten.

Grbin said that he himself decided recently to waive that allowance before the case was exposed to the public.

Grbin insisted that he had received the allowance in compliance with laws and the parliament's rule book, and added that currently over 80 MPs in the 151-seat parliament received LAFHA.

The opposition leader said that he would push for better regulation of the perks for lawmakers.

Commenting on Minister Darko Horvat's arrest on the abuse of office charges, who resigned after the apprehension, the SDP chief said that the matter did not concern Horvat only but the whole government.

"This is about a systematic way for favouring certain people with connections with Horvat, (former minister Tomislav) Tolušić, or someone else. (Prime Minsiter Andrej) Plenković has been aware of that and tolerated that," said Grbin.

He again called for snap elections as the exit from the current situation.

Asked by the show's host whether he still nurtured the ambition to become the prime minister, Grbin said that it was his obligation as long as he was at the helm of the SDP.

Grbin extended condolences to Prime Minister Plenković on the death of his father who passed away in a hospital on Saturday evening.

For more, check out our politics section.

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