ZAGREB, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Committees of Croatian Parliament endorsed on Wednesday the candidates for the economy minister and deputy prime minister.
Committee on Economy and Committee on Constitution, Standing Orders, and Political System supported the nomination of Darko Horvat as economy minister and Tomislav Tolusic as deputy prime minister. The parliament is expected to confirm them on Friday.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has proposed Darko Horvat and Tomislav Tolusic to replace former minister of economy and deputy prime minister Martina Dalic in the government.
Dalic resigned on May 13 amid allegations of conflict of interest in Agrokor case. Independent news website index.hr revealed a series of her private emails sent to the group made of consultants, lawyers, and brokers, that was secretly formed to restructure the country's largest private company Agrokor.
The group was working on a special law that put the company under state administration in April 2017. One member of the group was later named the extraordinary state manager in charge of Agrokor, while companies of some members got lucrative agreements with the new Agrokor management.
Agrokor is the biggest food retailer in the region. In 2015, its revenues were worth more than 15 percent of Croatia's total GDP. In 2017, a debt crisis hit the company and the government decided to intervene and try to save it.
Tomislav Tolusic is the current agriculture minister in Croatian government. Darko Horvat is a member of the parliament and a former minister of entrepreneurship and crafts in the government headed by the former prime minister Tihomir Oreskovic in 2016.