[3] In the late 1990s, Pašalić became target of a media campaign linking him to Miroslav Kutle, Vinko Grubišić, Ninoslav Pavić and others.
They allegedly entered into a series of secret partnerships which resulted in the formation a company called "Grupo" in 1996, which was influential in the early operation of Nova TV, founded in 1999.
[5] New president of the HDZ, Ivo Sanader, start the reorganisation of the party and Pašalić was his opponent.
He formed his own party called Croatian Bloc (Hrvatski blok, "HB").
In the 2005 presidential election, Ivić Pašalić ran as the HB candidate and finished seventh, with 1.82% of the vote.