Radimir Čačić

Radimir Čačić
Deputy Prime Minister
In office 23 December 2011 – 14 November 2012
Prime Minister	Zoran Milanović
Succeeded by	Vesna Pusić
1st President of the People's Party - Reformists
Incumbent
Assumed office 2014
2nd President of the Croatian People's Party
In office 1995–2000
Preceded by	Savka Dabčević-Kučar
Succeeded by	Vesna Pusić
4th President of the Croatian People's Party
In office 2008–2013
Preceded by	Vesna Pusić
Succeeded by	Vesna Pusić
Minister of Economy
In office 23 December 2011 – 14 November 2012
Prime Minister	Zoran Milanović
Preceded by	Đuro Popijač
Succeeded by	Ivan Vrdoljak
Minister of Public Works, Construction and Reconstruction
In office 27 January 2000 – 23 December 2003
Prime Minister	Ivica Račan
Preceded by	Ministry created
Succeeded by	Ministry dissolved
Personal details
Born	(1949-05-11) 11 May 1949 Zagreb, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia
Political party	Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats (1990-2013) People's Party - Reformists (2013-present)
Alma mater	University of Zagreb (Faculty of Architecture)
Awards	Order of Duke Domagoj
Military service
Allegiance	Croatia
Service/branch	Croatian Army
Years of service	2001-
Rank	Honorary Brigadier

Radimir Čačić (pronounced [râdimiːr tʃâtʃitɕ]; born 11 May 1949) is a Croatian politician and businessman, best known as a leader of the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats (HNS) and a government minister.

Čačić served as the president of the HNS between 1995 and 2000. Following the Croatian parliamentary election, 2000, he became part of the Cabinet of Ivica Račan I where he notably spearheaded the construction of motorways.

He was elected president of HNS again in 2008. Following the 2011 parliamentary election, as the leader of the second-largest party in the four-party Kukuriku coalition, Čačić became Deputy Prime Minister, as well as Minister of Economy, in the Government of Zoran Milanović.

After causing a car crash that resulted in two fatalities, a Hungarian court sentenced him to 22 months in prison in November 2012. He resigned from his government post, and was ejected from HNS in 2013. After serving his prison sentence, Čačić returned to politics with a new political party, the People's Party - Reformists.

Early life

After graduating from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Architecture in 1973, he worked for a Zagreb company before moving to Varaždin and joining the construction company "Zagorje". Together with several partners, in 1979 he left Zagorje and founded the construction company "DP Coning". In 1989, the Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce awarded him with the title of manager of the year. Čačić amassed considerable wealth in the process, and when the laws were changed in March 1989 to allow for privatization, he spent 750,000 German marks to buy a 25% stake in his old company "Zagorje", and later merged the two companies, with some jobs being lost in the process.^[1]

1990s

He first entered politics in the Coalition of People's Accord in 1989, but with no electoral success. In 1990 and 1991, with Čačić as the director, Coning was involved in a failed construction project in Dubrovnik.^[2]

During the Croatian War of Independence, Čačić was a brigadier of the fledgling Croatian army. In the Battle of the Barracks, he led the September 1991 negotiations with the Yugoslav People's Army to abandon the Varaždin barracks and was used as a hostage to make sure disarmed army members were safely escorted to Serbia. He was later awarded the Homeland War Memorial Medal and the Order of Duke Domagoj.^[3]

In 1991-1992, Coning was involved in another much larger failed construction project in Israel,^[4] for which the company was later involved in multimillion-dollar lawsuits.^[5] DP Coning was transformed into Coning holding with several daughter companies, and the Holding was later renamed Ingprojekt. This transaction was later undone in a court of law, but Čačić had since sold or transferred his stakes in the Coning companies to a legal firm.^[1] Čačić's business affairs were commonly used against him when he became more active in politics, and for the Israel case he was once defamed by Miroslav Rožić.^[4] By 1995, he was one of the few Croatian politicians who were wealthy prior to entering a public office, although his wealth would later multiply during the course of his political activity.

He succeeded Savka Dabčević-Kučar as the president of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) and held the position for six years. He in turn was succeeded by Vesna Pusić, while Čačić became the president of the central committee of the party. He became a member of the Croatian Parliament after the 1995 parliamentary election.

2000s

In the 2000 election, the HNS won more seats in the Croatian Parliament and participated in the six-party coalition that formed the government under Ivica Račan. Čačić was the only member of HNS in the government but was given the influential and suitable position of the Minister of Public Works, Reconstruction and Building which granted him access to many government sponsored projects.

Radimir Čačić was instrumental in reviving the project to build the Zagreb-Split motorway, arranging a more viable financing model – one that did not favour Bechtel Corporation so much as the contracts signed by Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) did, both before and after Čačić.^[6][7][8] The ministry invited tenders in order to choose the construction companies which would build the new road, and this method proved successful in getting the building under way. When Čačić exited the office, the sections from Karlovac to Zadar were mostly completed and the rest were also partially built.

Čačić also helped organize the public state-sponsored housing project for young families, the first such endeavour in modern-day Croatia. The buildings were later nicknamed Čačićevi stanovi (Čačić apartments) after him.

After the 2003 election, the HNS returned to the opposition but Čačić retained a seat in the Parliament.

The new HDZ leadership organized a parliamentary investigation panel on Čačić's alleged misdeeds: he was accused of conflict of interest given how his old company Coning was also awarded contracts in building the Zagreb-Split highway. However, after the subsequent inquiry, Čačić was cleared of all charges. In December 2006, the HDZ parliamentary investigation panel again convened and changed its previous decision, saying Čačić was indeed in conflict of interest because of twelve contracts worth 132 million kuna signed with companies with a connection to Čačić, without this connection being properly registered according to relevant law. He in turn insisted that this was a meaningless distinction and that he was already disassociated from his old companies, and tried to get the decision reversed in court, but was rejected by a Zagreb court in 2007. He appealed the verdict and was ultimately rejected by the Constitutional Court of Croatia in 2010.^[9]

In 2005 his party won the local elections in the Varaždin County and Čačić became the župan (prefect) of the county on 9 June. He was replaced in June 2008, after two HNS deputies in the county council switched sides to the opposition.^[10]

2010s

On 8 January 2010, he caused a severe traffic accident on the M7 motorway in Hungary which resulted in injuries leading to deaths of two passengers in the car hit. Čačić's Chrysler 300 rear-ended a Škoda Fabia in dense fog.^[11] Čačić subsequently called the police. He was charged by a Somogy County court and released on €1,000 bail.^[12] Under Hungarian law he now faces a jail sentence.^[13][14] The incident led to Čačić handing in his resignation as president of the Croatian Tennis Association, which was later refused by the federation's governing board.

Čačić represented HNS in the Kukuriku coalition and was the top-listed candidate for the 3rd electoral district at the Croatian parliamentary election, 2011.^[15] In the district they won 52.73% of the vote.^[16] Following the overall election win, Čačić became a Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet of Zoran Milanović.

On 29 June 2012 the court of first instance found him guilty for the car accident and sentenced him to 1 year and three months on probation.^[17] Croatian opposition politicians Tomislav Karamarko, Jadranka Kosor and Dragutin Lesar called for Čačić to resign; members of the ruling coalition Mirela Holy and Josip Leko expressed reservations about the issue.^[18] On 14 November 2012 the court of second instance confirmed the verdict and increased his sentence to 22 months in prison.^[19] The same day, Čačić resigned from the Croatian Government.^[20]

Čačić was ejected from HNS in January 2014.^[21] He was released from prison in June 2014 after serving a year out of his 22-month sentence.^[22]

On 28 September 2014 he became the first president of the People's Party - Reformists.^[23]

References