Croatia Journalist Accuses MP of Bribery Attempt

Veteran Croatian journalist Drago Hedl - who writes for the Croatian news site Telegram - reported on Thursday that Franjo Lucic, an MP from the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, tried to bribe him not to write a story about his businesses undergoing bankruptcy procedures.

Hedl told BIRN that Lucic did not answer his calls and text messages for a day and then tried to bribe him over the telephone on Wednesday.

"I thought he was calling to finally set up a meeting with me, but he immediately said he was having problems with the banks and begged me not to publish my text, and said that he would pay me for it," Hedl said.

He added that that he was "shocked" someone had tried to bribe him "so blatantly".

"He was very explicit about it, saying he would pay me three times more than Telegram pays me. I said I didn't hear that, and he repeated everything without a problem, saying he would give me 3,000 euros if I was getting 1,000," Hedl said.

He said he had not reported Lucic to the police or the state attorney for attempted bribery but would cooperate if the authorities contacted him.

Hedl also made two audio recordings of Lucic's offer, the sound files of which he embedded in his article for Telegram.

Lucic, president of the HDZ's central committee for Pozega-Slavonia County, rejected Hedl's accusation and insisted he did not tried to bribe the journalist.

The MP told BIRN that he had "no interest" in bribing Hedl not to write about "an eight-year-old story which other media, such as [the daily] Jutarnji list, have reported about already".

He said Hedl would not be "writing anything new" and evidently "wants to promote himself at the expense of Franjo Lucic".

He also claimed that Hedl did not...