Several opposition MPs commented on the news on Thursday about the mysterious investor from the Emirates who bought a 43.4 percent stake in Fortenova from Sberbank, warning that it is a strategic company and its takeover is a matter of national security.
The investor Saif Alketbi from the United Arab Emirates acquired a 43.4 percent stake in the Croatian company Fortenova Grupa by buying Sberbank’s share, which neither Fortenova nor the government has official information about.
Siniša Hajdaš Dončić (SDP) said that the Committee for Internal Policy and National Security today requested a report from the Security Intelligence Agency (SOA) since it is about national security because energy and food are fundamental, national and strategic resources.
“This issue stems from the non-transparent first step, which is Plenković’s ‘lex Agrokor’. Everything comes at a cost, something that you start non-transparently and ends non-transparently”, he assessed.
He expects the SOA to submit a report early next week, and if there has been a violation of sanctions against Russia it is a criminal offense. He believes that Prime Minister Plenković should have known what was happening because Agrokor accounts for almost three percent of Croatia’s GDP and has almost 40,000 employees.
Sandra Benčić (Možemo) assessed the whole situation regarding the acquisition of shares in Fortenova as suspicious.
Croatia has no mechanisms for determining the real owners of companies and capital
“The government has once again put itself in a situation where one of the strategic companies in Croatia is being taken over, so we don’t know who is behind that capital and what their intentions are. Also, at the moment we don’t know if the capital behind the takeover should be sanctioned because we don’t have any information,” she said.
She added that there is no important information because the government has not set up mechanisms to determine the real owners of companies and capital investing in Croatia, which the opposition has repeatedly requested. She added that the SOA should play a key role in the implementation of sanctions against Russia.
For Zvonimir Troskot (Most), it is frivolous to come out with contradictory information because it is Forten’s company that owns “half of Slavonia”.
He believes that it will be possible to give ratings only when the transaction actually takes place and all parties confirm the purchase and sale, but he worries that “in the midst of such a crisis, we are throwing around half-information” because it shows that there is no strategy for getting out of the crisis.
“Lately, the prime minister doesn’t know anything – he didn’t know about Ina, Fortenova, HEP, everything is his personal fault. The government has no strings in its hands,” he said.
Daniel Spajić (Domovinski pokret) asserted that the current situation “is tantamount to high treason of Croatian national interests”, the government once again does not know what is happening, and one of the key questions is who manages our pension funds.
He reminded that Fortenova owns a lot of companies, land and concessions and called for questioning the situation until we get serious answers. He believes that SOA and the police should be involved, and he expects Prime Minister Plenković to inform the public about what is happening.
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