FOR ČAČIĆ, IT’S NOT THE ACCIDENT BUT WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

If, from beyond the grave, US Senator Ted Kennedy is watching the drama that engulfed Radimir Čačić, he must be glad Chappaqudick is in Massachusetts and not Hungary.

Like Čačić, Kennedy was speeding down a road in 1969 when he had a car accident, killing Mary Jo Kopechne, his 28-year-old passenger. Kennedy got off light. Citing the senator’s “unblemished record,” a local judge gave Kennedy a two-month suspended sentence. His time in the Senate continued without interruption for another four decades until his death in 2009, although the incident probably killed any chance for Kennedy to gain the presidency.

Čačić wasn't so fortunate, and his record for trying to wrest power over INA from Hungary’s MOL may or not have been considered by the Budapest court when it overturned a lower court's decision to suspend Čačić's sentence for a 2010 car accident that killed two people. There is no appeal, although rumors suggest there could still be a way for him to stay out of jail.

And when it comes to sentences, mid-November was a bit of a milestone for Croatia. Within a week, two senior public officials in Croatia got jail time (and, of course, two generals kissed their sentences goodbye). But the similarities between Cicac and Ivo Sanader stop there.

Sanader was found guilty of stealing from the Croatian people, morally not much different than grabbing an old lady's purse, but on a grander scale. In essence, he shoplifted some of the value of INA and sold it as his own. The court found that MOL paid Sanader about 5 million euros for control of INA, a price they would have likely paid legitimately, say, in facility modernization or research and development. It's like he reached into the pockets of every man, woman and child in Croatia and took 1 euro and change for himself from each, enough to buy a large drink at McDonald’s.  (This doesn’t count the chump change he was found to have gotten from Hypo Bank).

And when arrest was imminent, Sanader hopped into a car and headed to Austria, forcing Croatia to spend six months and more resources to bring him back.

Čačić, on the other hand, had a tragic car accident, the kind we all fear because we know too well that it can happen at any time to any of us. Of course, to the family of the victims and Čačić himself, the incident was devastating. But by all accounts Čačić wasn't doing anything that most of us don't do routinely, pushing the speed limit a bit on a highway. And instead to turning around and fleeing for the nearest border, he called the police and stood trial without protest. When sentenced, he again expressed regret for the accident and pledged to respect the court decision and “act accordingly.“

After Čačić was sentenced and resigned—signaling a rare week of Croatia's repeated appearances in international news—I was asked whether the news was bad for the country's reputation. I don't see it like that.

Croatia doesn't need any more Ivo Sanaders. Generously, he and others like him represent a traumatic adolescence for independent Croatia in which bad choices were made. But Croatia would benefit greatly from more Čačićes. Beyond his pro-business stance and understanding of the importance of foreign direct investment (foreign money has fueled growth in super economies like China and Singapore), Čačić represents a more sophisticated and adult approach to responsibility.

By the way, Croatia also doesn't need any Ted Kennedys either. Kennedy disappeared for hours after his accident and didn't call the police until there was no hope for rescuing Kopechne. And the judge? Well, he was a local judge in a state that idolized and respected the Kennedy name. And, unlike in Croatia, the prosecution in the United States doesn’t have the opportunity to appeal verdicts it doesn’t like.

(Originally published in Croatian in 21. Stoljece, Nov. 27, 2012.)