CROATS STOLE THE IMAGE FOR THEIR COIN: They utterly humiliated themselves and decided to withdraw everything!

Stjepan Pranjković, the author of the Croatian coin with the image of the marten, which is claimed to be plagiarism, spoke out and announced that he was withdrawing his coin.

According to a Novosti reminder, it is a coin with a marten on it. It turned out, however, that the animal was taken from a photograph by a British photographer without his permission.

- Encouraged by the unpleasant atmosphere, as well as the pressures I am exposed to regarding the design of the reverse of the one euro coin with the image of a marten, I decided to withdraw my design proposal with this image and waive any rights - Pranjković wrote to the HNB Money Commission, Media Servis reports. 

- I did not intend to hurt anyone's feelings, so I apologise to everyone, especially to the Croatian National Bank, the Government and the Croatian public - Pranjković added.

As a reminder, he received 70,000 kunas for his work, which is a little more than 9,000 euros. He is the author of two second-placed designs for which he twice received 35,000 kuna. In total, therefore, 140,000 kunas or more than 18,000 euros.

The latest scandal is another in a series from Croatia, where, if we take into account their claiming of the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla, they have obviously been used to plagiarism for some time.