”I’m filing a criminal report as soon as it’s ready. I just can’t believe that he deceived us so much”
As VLM/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of June, 2018, it all began at the end of February 2017 when the Todorić dynasty asked Russia’s Sberbank for the final 100 million euro loan…
A total of fifteen companies who had cash owed to them by the former Agrokor boss paid by Sberbank have somehow ended up returning 247 million kuna to Ivica Todorić himself, writes Express, which has published a shocking list of suppliers who have allegedly ”returned the money and helped Todorić move it to a Arab tax oasis.”
”I’m filing a criminal report as soon as it’s ready. I just can’t believe that he deceived us so much, or what we were so engaged in,” said one of them who ended up returning millions to Agrokor.
Although he was drowning in debt, and he apparently couldn’t get enough together for the workers’ wages or to pay any tax to the state, Todorić claims to have sent five million euros to Dubai to purchase Costella’s water resources in Slovenia. The Arab company, which is the formal owner of the aforementioned company, was established for that purpose only, and its overall owner is another Arabian company. Investigators are now trying to trace that money.
Back in February 2017, just before the Agrokor crisis came to light in the public eye and the economic and political mess ensued, Ivica Todorić asked Sberbank for what was to be the last 100 million euro loan. In Moscow, Putin’s bankers said they first needed stabilisation.
Although the Russians were very skeptical, one of Sberbank’s main men, Maxim Poletaev, personally pledged for the final big loan to go through. Sberbank itself didn’t have much trust in Ivica Todorić, and therefore had no desire to pay that loan directly to the former Agrokor boss, but they agreed that Sberbank would pay it into the accounts of the suppliers to whom Todorić owed money. However, according to Express, Todorić, as sly and as shrewd as ever, managed to end up with that huge amount of cash.
During the initial negotiations, Todorić provided a list of priority suppliers to whom Agrokor’s companies owed money, and that after ten days, more specifically on the last day of March 2017, he’d send a new list to Sberbank. The collocutors from Sberbank had naturally assumed that in the meantime, Agrokor’s now disgraced ”gazda” had negotiated with some of the suppliers himself, or that he had gotten rid of some of those to whom he didn’t owe.
TDR, to whom Todorić owed a considerable sum for cigarettes, dropped to just eight million kuna, Phillip Moriss and Orbico were down to 11 million, Croatiasped and Medika’s distributor completely dropped off the list, and HT dropped to just eight million. AWT, which even ended up going into pre-bankruptcy proceedings, should have received 10 million kuna, but was conveniently removed from the other list for loan payment.
Some long-time partners of Ivica Todorić such as Vira, Granolia, did appear on the new list. Some others such as Iločki podrumi (Ilok cellars) saw the amount that needed to be paid increase by almost double. Both lists included Pivac, Mlinar, Todorić’s partner Karisma, Sokol Marić, Unex… During the first three days of March, Sberbank paid a total of 56 suppliers from that very list, paying them a massive total of 455 million kuna. Ironically, more than 247 million kuna landed on Agrokor’s account on that very same day.
