Problems with Croatia’s largest privately-owned company continue.
Agrokor owner Ivica Todorić is allegedly preparing a lawsuit against Croatia. A few days after the news that Sberbank from Russia has launched three arbitration proceedings against the state, which can also serve as a preparatory step for lawsuits against Croatia, Todorić is preparing for a legal dispute with Croatia as well, reports Nacional on August 16, 2017.
The proceedings could be started in the Netherlands and then continue in Croatia, and Todorić could be able to force the government to pay massive damages to him. According to unofficial sources, the amount of such damages could be so high that this entire legal operation could shake the foundations of the state itself.
Todorić’s strategic plan for revenge against the government, if the State Attorney’s Office launches proceedings against him, was revealed to Nacional last week by a senior official of an EU member state.
“He is undertaking preparatory steps to initiate legal action in the Netherlands, against the Croatian government. The aim of the proceedings would be to prove that Todorić, as the owner of Agrokor, suffered a significant loss after the adoption of ‘Lex Agrokor.’ If this initial move is successful, he could then launch other proceedings, demanding that the state should compensate him for the damages. Todorić believes that the state has ‘stolen’ a year from him which he could have used to try to save Agrokor himself. Now it is clear that there were candidates for buying the group’s companies even during its crisis, and that there was time to discuss this before the banks would launch procedures which were considered at the time”, said the Nacional’s source.
The same source said that Todorić’s son Ante was also involved in the preparatory steps and that he travelled abroad where he consulted with foreign lawyers.
Nacional contacted Todorić via an intermediary, a person for whom the weekly claims to have undoubtedly proven to be in direct contact with Todorić. The possibility of instituting proceedings against the Croatian government was not denied by Todorić. “We are considering all the options,” was Todorić’s message. “Anything can happen, but if they do not touch me, I will not pull such a move,” said Todorić reportedly through the intermediary.
Todorić’s deliberations about launching a legal battle against Croatia are in line with what he said to Nacional through the same intermediary in mid-May. At the time, the intermediary stated, “He warned the government about potential risks if it got involved, which ultimately it did. It is possible to confute in detail a number of untruths about Agrokor business operations which have been published, These lies and the crisis, which is knowingly or unknowingly being created by certain individuals, have contributed the most to the creation of the economic affair which has led the country into the area of political instability.”
Todorić is still the owner of Agrokor Group, but the management rights were taken away from him after the government adopted the ‘Lex Agrokor,’ a special law which enabled it to appoint an extraordinary commissioner to lead the company for 15 months. The government’s explanation was that Agrokor was so large and systemically important that its possible collapse would have catastrophic consequences for the whole economy.
Translated from Index.hr.
