The Management of INA is Focused on Business, the Croatian Market, and Investments, Not Politics

In response to the question of whether political turmoil around INA bothers them, Aldott replied that “it is normal that it is better for the company if the environment is calm, if there is some consensus among shareholders.”

The President of the Management Board of INA Zoltan Aldott stated on Thursday that the Management Board of INA is focused on business, not political matters, and assessed that it is better for the company if the environment is calm and there is some consensus among shareholders.  

– The Management Board of INA is focused on business, the Croatian market, and the investments that INA is making, not on political matters. That is not our job; it belongs to other people,” Aldott said in response to journalists’ questions in the Parliament, where he was attending a thematic session of the Economic Committee regarding the LNG terminal project on Krk.

In response to the question of whether political turmoil around INA bothers them, Aldott replied that “it is normal that it is better for the company if the environment is calm, if there is some consensus among shareholders.”

The head of INA emphasized that the Management is also working with the Minister of Economy Tomislav Panenić and other actors from the Government and they are focused on their work.

– This is our concrete project and job to develop and invest in INA.

When assessing the role of Josip Petrović, whether he has communicated and whether he has relations with him as the President of the Management Board of INA, Aldott did not give a direct answer and stated that they work with all the people they need to do business with for the development of INA.

– We work with all actors, the current Government, all actors who can develop INA. We work with everyone we need to do business with for the development of INA, Aldott said in response to questions about Josip Petrović.

The latest turmoil in the ruling coalition is related to the INA-MOL case.

Deputy Prime Minister and head of Most, Božo Petrov, on Tuesday, commenting on speculation about reshuffling in the ruling coalition, according to which there would no longer be room for Most, stated that everything revolves around INA and emphasized that Most is not a brake, but that some interest groups do not like order.

Petrov later explained that he was referring to certain people who publicly boast about being on good terms with certain people who are currently in the Government.

– I can openly say, that is Mr. Petrović. He publicly stated at the trial of Sanader that he is a consultant for MOL. So, he works for another state-owned company, he does not work for the interests of the Croatian company. And then he publicly boasts about being good with Karamarko. These are very strange things to me, Petrov said in an interview for RTL Direkt.

After that, there was a reaction from Petrović himself, who stated that everything he did was related to proposing to his client MOL an agreement with the Croatian Government as the best option.  He also added that he “testified about an event that the entire Croatian public is aware of” and that it was his duty to tell the truth.

Today, a joint statement was also issued by the law firms representing Croatia and MOL in arbitration before the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), confirming that former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and former member of the INA management, now a consultant for MOL, Josip Petrović, were examined in arbitration as independent witnesses at the invitation of the presiding judge.

The law firms “Squire Patton Boggs” and “Dechert”, representatives of Croatia and MOL in the dispute between the Croatian and Hungarian oil companies, state that they issued a joint statement regarding the testimonies of Sanader and Petrović, from April 15 to 17 in London, at the order of the arbitration court to correct “false and inaccurate claims about those testimonies in Croatian media.”

In the statement, they indicate that the information that Sanader and Petrović testified “for MOL” is false and inaccurate. The two of them, they add, testified at the invitation of the president of UNCITRAL as independent witnesses.

They also add that the court ordered the parties in the proceedings to reiterate that the testimonies and other materials presented to the court are strictly confidential and that both parties have committed to respect the strict confidentiality rules of the proceedings.