Is the net closing in on the big boss?
Despite the fact that the former Agrokor majority owner and his son Ante are still away in London, house searches and increased police presence has resulted in the arrests of several people involved with Agrokor’s former managing body.
As Poslovni Dnevnik reports on the 16th of October, 2017, alongside the company’s ex finance boss Ivan Crnjac, information has arisen stating that Ljerka Puljić, Piruška Canjuga and Tomislav Lučić, all ex members of Agrokor’s Administration under Ivica Todorić, have also been detained.
Up until the arrival of Ante Ramljak, the government appointed extraordinary commissioner, the burdened company was managed by seven people.
Just who are all these people? And why do the police have such a great interest in them?
Of course, the top dog was Ivica Todorić, known ”affectionately” in many circles as gazda (the boss), and his eldest son, Ante, was vice president of the company from 2016 onwards.
Tomislav Lučić is a former member of Agrokor’s Supervisory Board, and Ljerka Puljić, who was often referred to as Todorić’s ”right hand” have been detained.
The company’s finance boss, Ivan Crnjac, had the most responsible role when it came to drafting and writing business reports. Crnjac had been with Agrokor since 2005 as Executive Director for Strategy, and in 2008, he assumed a more favourable position, and entered into the company’s Management Board.
Ljerka Puljić was the long-time Senior Executive Vice President of Agrokor and for years she was referred to as Todorić’s ”right hand”. She came to Agrokor from Ledo in the first half of the nineties, eventually becoming one of the most powerful people within the company. Since 2015, she has been a member of Agrokor’s Supervisory Board. For ten years in a row, she was chosen as the most powerful woman in Croatian business. It seems that reign might just have come to a somewhat abrupt and not particularly glamorous end.
Damir Kuštrak, former member of the Agrokor Management Board and member of Mercator’s Supervisory Board, joined Ivica Todorić in 1994 when he was appointed Senior Agrokor Vice President for Operations and Marketing. After a short break, he returned to Agrokor in 2008, where he assumed the position of Executive Vice President for Export Markets.
Tomislav Lučić was a member of the Management Board from 2013 until 2015.
Piruška Canjuga, the wife of Zlatko Canjuga, was Agrokor’s Executive Vice President for Business and Business Development.
In 2016, Ivica Sertić became Agrokor’s Executive Vice President for Markets, Sales and Logistics. He has been the Managing Director of Jamnica since 1993. Under his leadership, the company became a strong market leader and the largest producer of mineral waters and soft drinks in southeastern Europe, perhaps the most well known of them all being Jana.
Hrvoje Balent, the husband of Ivica Todorić’s daughter Iva, joined Agrokor’s management in 2012.
Igor Čičak was in charge of finance from 2005 to October 2006.
The former head of Franjo Tuđman’s cabinet, Goran Radin, was responsible for human resources and legal and general affairs from 2010 to 2014.
Saša Galić has been a member of the Strategic Management Board from 2006 to 2008, coming to Agrokor from EBRD.
Stjepan Ledić was a member of the company’s management from 1999 to 2007.
DORH has announced on its web site that investigations into as many as fifteen individuals are being undertaken.
“This procedure is a continuation of a several-month investigation based on verified facts, and is the beginning of a comprehensive investigation that involves complex business relationships within the business entity,” DORH writes.
