Five Croat Ministers Ousted in Six Months Over Property Questions

(Bloomberg) -- Croatia’s premier fired his health minister, the fifth cabinet member ousted in the past year over media reports of undocumented property holdings.

With general elections slated for fall, the departure is a blow to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s government. Milan Kujundzic is the 14th minister to leave his cabinet since it took power in 2016.

Kujundzic has denied wrongdoing following the reports about property holdings. But the dismissals have all but ensured that corruption will be as important an issue in the general elections as it was in the Jan. 5 presidential ballot.

In that vote, incumbent Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic lost her re-election bid after she was filmed giving a cake and singing Happy Birthday to Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic, who’s fighting graft accusations that he denies.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jasmina Kuzmanovic in Zagreb at jkuzmanovic@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Piotr Bujnicki

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.