"The High Administrative Court has made a final ruling quashing a decision by the Conflict of Interest Commission from 2016 which concluded that former HDZ leader and Deputy PM Tomislav Karamarko had been in a conflict of interest, which was why he withdrew from politics," state agency Hina informed and explained on Tuesday.

This information was shared by Karamarko’s attorney Vesna Alaburic, who said that the court also ordered the Commission to cover Karamarko’s court costs in the amount of more than 13,000 kuna (€1,730).

The Conflict of Interest Commission’s decision was quashed also by the first-instance ruling in the proceedings, as was the decision to launch conflict of interest proceedings for lack of conditions to decide on the case due to a breach of principles of conduct.

Even though Karamarko had contested the very authority of the Commission to launch the proceedings, the court decided that the Commission cannot be stripped of that right.

“The High Administrative Court concluded that the earlier decision of the Administrative Court, even though it quashed it partially, cannot be considered unlawful because the settled case-law had been changed also by a final ruling in a conflict of interest case against former Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic, as well as by the new law on the prevention of conflict of interest, which does not envisage the possibility of conducting conflict of interest proceedings over breach of principles of conduct,” Hina clarified.

Karamarko resigned as HDZ leader and Deputy PM after the Conflict of Interest Commission concluded that his wife Ana’s company Drimia had received money from individuals lobbying for the Hungarian oil company MOL.

This was followed by appellate proceedings before administrative courts as well as by a decision of the Constitutional Court of July 2019, which upheld Karamarko’s complaint and quashed decisions of the administrative courts that had earlier upheld the Conflict of Interest Commission’s decision.

In June 2016 the Commission concluded that Karamarko, at the time First Deputy Prime Minister and HDZ president, had been in a conflict of interest because he presented his personal views and proposals for Croatia’s withdrawal from arbitration proceedings with MOL, notably at meetings of the Cooperation Council.

Karamarko denied all along that he or his wife had been in a conflict of interest and contested conclusions by the Conflict of Interest Commission regarding arbitration proceedings between Croatia and MOL.