conflict of interest – Croatia, the War, and the Future

Nesting of Kleptocracy-prone Practices Within Croatian Diplomatic Aggregate

June 2, 2018 by inavukic 10 Comments

Josko Paro
Former Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the US

Ignoring and breaching government regulations on contractual recruitment of external consultants, engaging external consultants for work that is listed in diplomats’ job statements, shady deals and payments, external consultant having access to government classified information and thereby national security compromised, sloppy and reckless bookkeeping, missing receipts and explanations of payments made, unexplained and unsupported expenditures, writing off assets with “gone missing” (no explanation), no proper asset registers, selling off Croatian government’s real estate assets much below the price of its value … All this and more in the Audit Report from the audit of Croatia’s ministry of Foreign and European Affairs for 2016, released a couple of months ago (PDF of Audit Report)! All this would have been in audit reports of communist Yugoslavia’s government departments had they been made public or done at all. Sadly, nothing much has changed on that front!

The breaches of Croatian government regulations on contracts for external consultants were found for the Croatian Embassy in Washington DC. The then Croatian Ambassador in Washington Josko Paro seems to not even having copped a slap on the wrist because of the breaches! Instead of being removed or suspended from diplomatic posts altogether after such audit findings (findings of shady deals and serious breaches of regulations that cost the Croatian taxpayers in payments and health care plan to same external consultant over US$280,000 over three years [2013-2016], which is a substantial amount of money by Croatian standards) he seems to be under consideration for a new ambassadorial post at the Croatian embassy in Belgium, given that his Washington one has expired a few months ago! When on her US visit to US in 2017 Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic stated that she did not want Ambassador Paro around her and yet he appears to be on her books for a new post!

Go figure!

No use expecting an enforcement of proper morality in Croatia’s diplomatic core – it’s still the admirers of former communist regime and public service practices that appear to keep winning presidential and government grins hands down! How sad and hopeless for democracy in Croatia!

The Audit Report emphasises the following findings:

In some cases throughout the various diplomatic posts, expenses in business books were not recorded at all or not recorded in accordance with accounting principles and rules;
In Washington DC, the locally engaged person/consultant to be in charge of administrative work, and other jobs was engaged without a signed contract between August 2016 and May 2017 and payment to that person made to the tune of US$28,800 (previous contract had been extended to the same consultant several times and all the while corrupt practices flourished, i.e. often in breach of government regulations);
The locally engaged person acted as economic advisor;
The aforementioned local person had access to information systems of the Ministry and classified information even though the provisions of Article 77 of that Ordinance prescribe that a locally engaged person should not have access to classified information;
Considering that the jobs of an economic consultant are part of jobs that diplomatic staff are paid to do, hiring an external local consultant to engage in this work by Washington DC Croatian diplomatic mission was in breach of the Ministry’s regulations;
Audit has established irregularities and omissions within the process of government procurement of services and goods that warrant the conditional audit report;
The register of government procurement of services and goods is untidy, incomplete and in breach of government regulations; etc.!

And these are the auditor’s findings for just one of several ministries or government departments of Croatia. It is safe to conclude that audits of others would not have findings that differ much from this one. Thieves of the state embedded in the state bureaucracy are the root and the foliage of government corruption in Croatia (as they would be anywhere where corruption thrives). This has not improved at all from the days of former Yugoslavia it seems. To top the kleptocracy that exists in the unchecked government bureaucracy stands the threat to national security imposed by giving access to classified information to an external consultant as practiced in the Washington DC Croatian mission while Josko Paro was the ambassador!

Indeed, such acute corruption within the government echelons may in fact lie at the root of some of the most dangerous and disruptive security challenges for a nation. Without doubt, the enablers of kleptocracy, corruption, keep the whole rotten scenarios going. Until someone stops them!

One would have expected that once the Croatian government had received such an Audit Report that specifies a raft of serious breaches of government regulations and a raft of examples that point to practices which give room to corruption and theft and nepotism, the detailing of practices that sustain a sophisticated system for kleptocracy, alarm bells would go off and investigations mounted and staff associated suspended from duties, at least pending independent investigation findings! I have come across no information that would suggest the government of Croatia is, after receiving such a damning audit report, taking proper measures to ensure the culprits suffer the consequences and the nation is spared from ongoing corruption. One can almost say that there is no better way of stamping out corrupt practices than by combing each as they present themselves to the authorities. Josko Paro, on the other –sorry- hand, is reportedly in the running for a new diplomatic post! Even though, among other serious breaches of administrative protocol his actions had, according to the auditor, jeopardised the sanctity of national security classified information.

What is the reason for this disappointing and frustrating state of affairs, one might ask.

For the most part, Croatia’s desperate situation in relation to corruption (that includes nepotism) has been attributed to two causes. First and foremost, abundant corruption was an inherent part of communist Yugoslavia regime, where for fifty years communist leaders and public officials had imposed corruption as the way of life. Many observers regard moral decrepitude and incorrigibly self-serving greed, along with an almost total failure to meet standards of good democratic governance, to have been at the heart of communist Yugoslavia’s failure to live up to its initial economic and political promise. Second, distressing failure of post-Homeland War leaders in Croatia to undertake earnest efforts to promote good governance and reliable democracy in Croatia. With sound reasons, many leaders have been accused of facilitating the spread of corruption and intensifying its harmful effects upon the citizens. The currently predominant strategy for remedying Croatia’s record of corruption and bad governance rests upon the prosecution of few highly positioned public figures, upon unravelling any conflicts of interests of highly positioned public figures while lack of proper and independent checks and balances and the tightening and policing of administrative and other operational practices don’t get a chance to see the light of day. Furthermore, the politicians and other public activists who dare to point a finger at the sorry and undemocratic, corruption prone, public governance are looked upon by many as abnormal, are often ridiculed within the circles of power. All powers that be in Croatia keep spinning the same yarn – we need to stamp out corruption! But do little, if anything.

And yet, persons like Josko Paro, who has been associated with several practices that raise alarm bells within the realms of facilitating or enabling corruption (breaches of government regulations or acting against the interests of the nation and its security are among them) are still in with a chance for a new diplomatic post or a high public position! Not a picture of the vision of prosperous and democratic Croatia paid for with blood in the Homeland War of 1990’s! Not a picture where diplomats must work and act in the interests of their state, in all aspects. Croatian diplomatic postings are in dire need of major overhaul and slaying the beast of corruption and kleptocracy is a task to which many must rise if Croatia is to prosper and citizens have trust in their government. Ina Vukic

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Communist Yugoslavia, conflict of interest, corruption, Croatia, Croatian diplomatic posts need major overhaul, Josko Paro, kleptocracy, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, national interests, roots of corruption in Croatia, shaping democracy, state audit report

Croatia: Prime Minister’s wife’s conflict of interests and sex education in schools

February 12, 2013 by inavukic 17 Comments

Timothy Tate and Judith Reisman Photo: Boris Kovacev/Cropix

Croatian association “Parents’ Voice For Children” (GROZD) has, according to Dnevno.hr news portal, 11 February, sent Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic an open letter in which it seeks the convening of an extraordinary Government meeting. GROZD seeks the exclusion of Professor Aleksandar Stulhofer from the government’s advisory committee on sex education in schools program and an investigation into the matter of seeing whether Prof. Stulhofer is associated with exposing children to pornography and the spreading of pedophilia in the Republic of Croatia.

“Remove from duties the Minister for Science, Education and Sport, Mr Jovanovic, and prevent him from working in any similar position within the government of the Republic of Croatia because, due to many omissions in his work unscientific program that rests upon gender ideology and follows the directions of the World Congress of Sexologists which, among other things, promotes pedophilia, has been introduced in all schools in Croatia”, the open letter says.

According to Dnevno.hr portal, GROZD also seeks the annulment of Minister Jovanovic’s decision that makes the health education program mandatory for all school students. It also states that Stulhofer, besides being a scholar and an associate of the Kinsey Institute in U.S.A., has been collaborating for many years with persons who are declared pedophiles. GROZD emphasises that Stulhofer was against the raising of the legal age from 14 to 16 for sexual intercourse with adults in Croatia.

GROZD offered a warning, once again, that Stulhofer has introduced topics into sex education curriculum that give space for the promotion of pedophilia and endangerment of children who are entrusted to the education system of Croatia.

“We take the liberty to ask you to withdraw your wife, dr. Music Milanovic, from the government’s advisory committee on the development of the curriculum because it is a fact that she is one of five members of that committee, possibly giving a false credibility to Prof. Stulhofer and to the non-scientific and ideological foundations of the school program”, concludes GROZD in its letter to Prime Minister Milanovic.

Whether Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic’s wife’s role in the government’s advisory committee on school curriculum for health (sex) education constitutes a serious conflict of interest in action is a matter that I cannot go into because I do not possess any factual information as to the workings of this committee and into any safety or precautionary procedures that may be in place to avoid detrimental effects conflict of interest may have on the sex education program introduced as mandatory component of school education in Croatia. However, when considering conflict of interest one must not only look at the actual situation of conflict of interests but also the “perceived” conflict of interest must also be eliminated. Judging from the Parents’ association GROZD letter to the Prime Minister there is no doubt that perceived conflict of interest exists in the minds of the stakeholders and the public when it comes to the mandatory sex education in schools curriculum. This, in any fair and true democracy must be avoided and it would seem to me that Zoran Milanovic’s wife should resign her position on the committee as a matter of decency towards the public’s perception and fears; as a matter of furthering democracy in Croatia.

The fact that the sex education in Croatian schools was introduced without adequate (or any) public/parent consultation is a tragedy for the relatively young democracy. It has brought serious rifts between the Church and the state,
it has seen the harshest (without reasonable foundation) of disciplining of journalist Karolina Vidovic Kristo, it has seen barrages of offensive remarks against dr. Judith Reisman, but it has also brought home the realisation that Croatia has a long way to go in its path of building democracy into all facets of public life.

British investigative journalist and filmmaker summarises the issues of and around the mandatory sex education program in Croatian schools in the video clip below:

Disciplining of journalist Karolina Vidovic Kristo for simply offering to the public information associated with sex education in school is, as Timothy Tate says: “…indicative of a mentality which is not democratic, which is not comfortable with difficult facts brought out into the public arena. You can’t stop free speech if you want to be a democracy. It would be unthinkable in Britain for the Prime Minister of Britain to stand up in parliament, as your Prime Minister stood up in parliament, and essentially trash the reputation of a journalist for bringing to light of something that should be brought to light ”.

Indeed! But then the wife of the British, the Australian … Prime Minister would not sit on the government’s advisory committee for the development of school education curricula. It is a long established fact that school education curricula are the responsibility of governments but are also a fertile ground for the promotion or furtherance of political orientations and views. It is on that note that school education curricula must be independent of any political parties and that any real or perceived conflict of interest be removed from them. Otherwise, the way things seem in Croatia at this moment, democracy has a long way to travel before its roots are planted in all avenues of daily, ordinary lives of citizens. And, finally, as the plot around public outcries against or for the imposed mandatory school sex education program in Croatia thickens with the revelation that Prime Minister’s wife sat on the government’s advisory committee for the program, one wonders how much and whether the pro-government’s public noises were in fact trying to cover up the possible government-linked conflict of interest involved in the final cut of the program. It’s a matter of “watch this space”, but one cannot but applaud dr Judith Reisman for her announcement of defamation lawsuits against the media outlets and individuals in Croatia who had set out to shred her reputation. Dr Reisman may yet be a heroine that will demonstrate to the Croatian public that freedom of speech in a democracy is a sanctity regulated by the rule of defamation law. Ina Vukic, Prof (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Aleksandar Stulhofer, conflict of interest, Croatia, freedom of speech, GROZD, Judith Reisman, Karolina Vidovic-Kristo, Sanja Music Milanovic, sex education, Timothy Tate, Zeljko Jovanovic

Croatia: Constitutional Court cuts wings off prevention of conflict of interest committee

November 9, 2012 by inavukic 2 Comments

Making head ways in fight against corruption Croatia will soon get its Committee for the prevention of conflict of interest. Such Committee will, for the first time ever, be an independent body as opposed to the one where it’s a parliamentary committee, comprised of members of parliament.

The Croatian Constitutional Court has November 7 brought down an Order abolishing some articles from the Prevention of Conflict of Interest Act. The abolished articles relate to powers under the Act that the members of the Committee on Prevention of Conflict of Interest, appointed by the Parliament, had and under which powers the members had full access to bank accounts held by all public officials. I.e. the abolished articles relate to those provisions that existed for the verification via banks and taxation office of asset declarations made by public officials as part of their job requirements. The Constitutional court has also ordered the Croatian Parliament to elect the president and members of the Committee on Conflict of Interest by 15 February 2013, at the latest.

“This decision goes beyond all international legal responsibilities of the Republic of Croatia. The 2005 UN convention against corruption provides for state intervention in the institution of bank secrets only when there’s a case for investigation of criminal cases and in cases of permanent divestiture of material gain on basis of court order”, said judge Mario Jelusic.

“It’s essential”, judge Jelusic added, “to deliver a determination of the concept of conflict of interest, as it had often been wrongly understood in the past 20 years. There’s a need that we explain the meaning of that institution and, once and for all, separate it from the criminal sphere or from any kind of incriminating behaviour”.

Jasna Omejec, president of Croatian Constitutional court, said at the Bench that “the institution of conflict of interest, from the very beginning when people started to talk about it in Croatia, was wrongly understood, and that one gets the impression that with it one automatically associated something that’s a priori corrupt, something that labeled a person found in conflict of interest as a person who had committed a criminal act or at least as a person that’s dishonest, immoral and corrupt”.

The justice minister, Drazen Bosnjakovic, of former HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) led government commented that, in accordance with the provisions of the Act, public officials were obligated to release a statement by which they permit the Commission on conflict of interest to inspect their bank accounts, and now the Constitutional court had abolished that possibility. He considers that the Constitutional court had abolished important provisions of the Act, and that if the Committee for prevention of conflict of interest cannot verify the details contained in a public official’s asset declaration, then a public official can write anything into it, and the Committee is, because of the changes in the Act, unable to perform its function.

Given the widespread corruption (much of which was embedded in conflicts of interests among public officials and company directors etc.) that plagued Croatia for decades, from times of former Yugoslavia, the comments made by the Constitutional court judges leave a sour taste. It’s difficult to avoid feeling disappointed with their comments especially when, reading between the lines, one gets the sense of “forgiveness” to those who had trodden along the road of conflict of interest in order to reach the goal of enormous personal gains through corruption.

The judge’s words are almost like saying: You poor devil, it’s O.K., you didn’t know what you were doing.

One smells a cover up, or at least a helping hand by the Constitutional court for those who find themselves in courts, charged with corruption; they now seem to have an “I didn’t know” defense (excuse) blessed by the court. Well, in civilized and democratic countries not knowing the law does not excuse one from being successfully prosecuted for breaching it. Ultimately, it’s every citizens own responsibility to know the law.

Even if the words “conflict of interest” may have been foreign to Croatia (or Yugoslavia) the concept of it, the wrongfulness of disregarding it, was in no way foreign. Those who set themselves up in positions of power, nepotism, bribes, privatisation of companies – on the cheap – to immediate and wider family members…all knew very well they were doing wrong, they were selfish and greedy at the expense of the people and national wealth.

They knew they were dishonest, immoral and corrupt and if they were labeled as such, the label was absolutely deserved, despite the fact that what the Constitutional court judges said might lead one to doubt the righteousness of such labels.

One good thing though is that this change in the Prevention of Conflict of Interest Act will (must) lead to watertight and transparent controls, policies, procedures and regulations in managing and preventing conflict of interest not only among public officials but for public company directors and management, for professionals, for non-government organisations etc. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)