SDP Reached an Agreement, Debts for Bandić’s Campaign Will Be Paid in Installments

In the headquarters of the SDP on Friday afternoon, after five hours of negotiations, an agreement was reached on the installment repayment of a debt of 9.5 million kuna according to the ruling of the High Commercial Court, for the debt from Milan Bandić’s campaign for the local elections in 2009.

The leadership of the SDP negotiated in their premises with the plaintiff, co-owner of TV Sljeme, Slobodan Ljubičić, and as party president Davor Bernardić informed journalists after the Presidency meeting, which accepted the settlement, an agreement was reached on a repayment period of six years, and Ljubičić agreed to withdraw a second lawsuit for costs from the second round of the same campaign, amounting to about 1.5 million kuna.

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Due to the negotiations, the meeting of the party Presidency was interrupted, which continued only in the evening after the agreement was reached. Bernardić did not want to disclose the details of the settlement, and told journalists that “contrary to announcements that the SDP would end up in a blockade and bankruptcy, they will have to be disappointed because none of that will happen.”

“As I announced that we would resolve the dispute, we will do so. We presented the model of the solution to the Presidency, which supported it, according to which we will repay the debts in installments, and the plaintiff will withdraw another lawsuit he has against the SDP,” said Bernardić.

“Considering that the first-instance ruling was in favor of the SDP, and we lost in the second instance, this raises doubts and questions about the procedure itself,” assessed the SDP leader, announcing that he would use all legal options in the upcoming period to protect the SDP.

He also stated that he inherited the party a year ago with a ten million kuna deficit in the treasury, and that they developed a restructuring plan, made savings of four million kuna in the past year, emerged from a year that was challenging, turbulent, a year of local elections, and managed to fiscally consolidate the party.

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“Just as we succeeded once, we will succeed again,” Bernardić emphasized. “We are entering a period full of work, cuts, and sacrifices, but I am optimistic. The SDP will grow and the SDP will take responsibility for Croatia,” he highlighted.

Bernardić said he could not disclose the technical details of the settlement, but a rough calculation indicates that they will repay about 9.5 million kuna in 72 installments of slightly above 130 thousand kuna per month.

When asked how the negotiations with Ljubičić, with whom he once shared a party jersey, went, Bernardić replied that there was no other solution. “You have a potential risk of enforcement and blockade or a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Installment repayment is the only solution. We have resolved this skeleton in the closet as well,” he asserted.

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Unofficially, it was heard that there were those at the Presidency meeting who opposed negotiations and a settlement with “such a team,” to which Bernardić responded that it was understandable that there were discussions about everything. “We could have chosen the risk of blockade and enforcement or this rational path, which is a peaceful resolution of the dispute,” he noted.

Earlier in the day, Milan Bandić publicly asked Bernardić ‘where is the money,’ to which Bernardić replied that it would be “interesting to hear how long Bandić’s answer to that same question would last.”

Journalists also asked why Ljubičić agreed to installment repayment if he has a final ruling and can enforce the party, Bernardić explained that “even when you sit on someone’s account, it does not mean that you will receive that money all at once if there are no funds in the account. In that case, he would neither receive his money nor would we be able to repay our obligations, so this is a compromise,” concluded the SDP president.