Commission Unanimously: No Conflict of Interest Proceedings Against the President Will Be Initiated

The Chairwoman of the Commission for Deciding on Conflict of Interest, Dalija Orešković, reported on Thursday that the Commission unanimously decided not to initiate proceedings against the President of the Republic, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, in two cases – related to the pardon of Danko Seiter, who committed a criminal offense for the benefit of Nikola Hanžela, whose company donated more than 197,000 kuna for her presidential campaign, and due to her birthday celebration organized by Zdravko Mamić.

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– The Commission decided that no proceedings will be initiated against the official Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia, regarding the pardon of Danko Seiter, who committed a criminal offense for the benefit of Nikola Hanžela, whose company donated a significant amount of money to the official for her presidential campaign, although it can be considered that there is an interest connection in this specific case, the proceedings for deciding on the conflict of interest will not be initiated since granting a pardon is a special constitutionally guaranteed and generally unlimited discretionary prerogative, emphasized Orešković.

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She also emphasized that “in the second case, regarding the report stating that by organizing a birthday celebration by Zdravko Mamić, the official received an improper gift, the Commission decided that proceedings against the official will not be initiated since, due to the lack of data from other competent state bodies, the Commission could not verify the credibility and validity of the submitted report.”