Dinkić defends disgraced airport chief

Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said that recently-resigned airport director Bojan Kristo’s only mistake was paying large bonuses during an economic crisis. Dinkic told B92 TV on Sunday night that he is not in conflict with the Democratic Party (DS) regarding this situation and that he is "good friends with President Boris Tadic". Dinkic defends disgraced airport chief The minister also said that is resignation is at the president's disposal at all times. Kristo, of Dinkic’s G17 plus party, had a wage of EUR 3,600 as Nikola Tesla Airport director and gave the company management bonuses worth EUR 11,000, before a scandal over this forced him to resign last week. “He made a mistake of not decreasing these bonuses in a time of crisis. However, the bonuses, when looking at the listing, were not paid in one month. His wage was about RSD 350,000 a month on average, and the bonuses were an average of RSD 150,000, which is a huge wage,” Dinkic said. But, the minister continued, mentioning other state-owned enterprise, “the directors of NIS and EPS have the same or even larger wages.” Dinkic then said that the case of Kristo was in fact an attack on him, and that "investigators need to determine the background of the media attacks". “Large salaries are not the problem, decreasing salaries is not rationalization, rationalization is decreasing the red tape. It is an economic rule that some might like and some might not. He made a lot of enemies because he implemented it. All the people who lost their jobs became his enemies and threatened him,” Dinkic claims. He also said that the problem began when someone "spoke in the name of the president", to say that Kristo should resign. “Personally, I think a mistake was made. Who ever spoke in the president’s name made the cardinal mistake,” Dinkic said, adding that he "knows who it was, but would not give any details". He said that a minister came to him at the government meeting on Thursday and told him that officials from the security agency (BIA) said that Kristo was “burning documents”. Dinkic did not name that minister either. "Kristo affair not aimed at Dinkic" DS official and minister in the Cvetkovic cabinet Oliver Dulic said in reaction to Dinkic's statements on Sunday, that the “Kristo case” is not expected to hurt relations between his party and G17 Plus. The two parties formed a pre-election coalition, and are now a part of the ruling majority in parliament. Dulic on Monday told that the Democrats are not ready to change coalition partners, and that new elections are not in the best interest of the country. He also said that Dinkic has the wrong impression that the Kristo case is in fact an attack on him. “I think that maybe Dinkic was a little too emotional when he perhaps went on to accuse other parties of that,” Dulic said. “I am sure that this issue will not hurt our relations, I think that we are have the same task here,” he said. Dulic added that looking into salaries in public companies "is like opening Pandora’s Box", adding that the question was in fact brought up by the current government, “which is paying the price of bad moves made in 2004.” “The DSS, which has been in the government in some way over the last seven years, which named both Bojan Kristo and all these boards of directors and all the directors getting these salaries now, that was during the time of Vojislav Kostunica’s government, and they are now washing their hands off it and saying, ‘We don’t know anything about that, shame one them with their large wages,’” Dulic said. He also stated that a model is being worked on for regulating salaries in public companies. Dulic denied media reports that political parties are in fact being financed via by state-owned companies.

Dinkić defends disgraced airport chief

The minister also said that is resignation is at the president's disposal at all times.

Krišto, of Dinkić’s G17 plus party, had a wage of EUR 3,600 as Nikola Tesla Airport director and gave the company management bonuses worth EUR 11,000, before a scandal over this forced him to resign last week.

“He made a mistake of not decreasing these bonuses in a time of crisis. However, the bonuses, when looking at the listing, were not paid in one month. His wage was about RSD 350,000 a month on average, and the bonuses were an average of RSD 150,000, which is a huge wage,” Dinkić said.

But, the minister continued, mentioning other state-owned enterprise, “the directors of NIS and EPS have the same or even larger wages.”

Dinkić then said that the case of Krišto was in fact an attack on him, and that "investigators need to determine the background of the media attacks".

“Large salaries are not the problem, decreasing salaries is not rationalization, rationalization is decreasing the red tape. It is an economic rule that some might like and some might not. He made a lot of enemies because he implemented it. All the people who lost their jobs became his enemies and threatened him,” Dinkić claims.

He also said that the problem began when someone "spoke in the name of the president", to say that Krišto should resign.

“Personally, I think a mistake was made. Who ever spoke in the president’s name made the cardinal mistake,” Dinkić said, adding that he "knows who it was, but would not give any details".

He said that a minister came to him at the government meeting on Thursday and told him that officials from the security agency (BIA) said that Krišto was “burning documents”.

Dinkić did not name that minister either.

"Krišto affair not aimed at Dinkić"

DS official and minister in the Cvetković cabinet Oliver Dulić said in reaction to Dinkić's statements on Sunday, that the “Krišto case” is not expected to hurt relations between his party and G17 Plus.

The two parties formed a pre-election coalition, and are now a part of the ruling majority in parliament.

Dulić on Monday told that the Democrats are not ready to change coalition partners, and that new elections are not in the best interest of the country.

He also said that Dinkić has the wrong impression that the Krišto case is in fact an attack on him.

“I think that maybe Dinkić was a little too emotional when he perhaps went on to accuse other parties of that,” Dulić said.

“I am sure that this issue will not hurt our relations, I think that we are have the same task here,” he said.

Dulić added that looking into salaries in public companies "is like opening Pandora’s Box", adding that the question was in fact brought up by the current government, “which is paying the price of bad moves made in 2004.”

“The DSS, which has been in the government in some way over the last seven years, which named both Bojan Krišto and all these boards of directors and all the directors getting these salaries now, that was during the time of Vojislav Koštunica’s government, and they are now washing their hands off it and saying, ‘We don’t know anything about that, shame one them with their large wages,’” Dulić said.

He also stated that a model is being worked on for regulating salaries in public companies.

Dulić denied media reports that political parties are in fact being financed via by state-owned companies.