ZAGREB, February 1, 2019 – Zagreb’s Commercial Court has turned down a motion by Belgrade’s Jugobanka, which is in official receivership and which asked for nearly 21 million euro and 2.6 million Swiss francs from Croatia, arguing that it was a debt stemming from loans which were used between 1985 and 1989 by the Croatian companies 3. Maj, Varteks and Duhan, and that the loans were being repaid to the Paris Club by Serbia, instead of Croatia.
The lawsuit, filed in 2009, says that Jugobanka bases is claim on Annex 6 from the succession treaty to the former Yugoslavia, i.e. provisions on the servicing of loans and other liabilities from agreements with the governments of the Paris Club member states.
Responding to the lawsuit, the Croatian State Prosecutor’s Office said Croatia had not undertaken the obligation to repay loans contracted by Jugobanka Udružena Banka Beograd branches nor the obligation to repay debts contracted by Jugobanka d.d Beograd as the Croatian branch.
Croatia said it had not undertaken those obligations either in bilateral agreements with the German and Swiss governments.
The fact that the end users of loans for which Jugobanka Udružena Banka Beograd borrowed abroad were based in Croatia does not mean that Croatia was obliged to pay to Paris Club member states the amounts which said bank had borrowed, Zagreb’s Commercial Court says in the explanation of its ruling, which can be appealed.
Croatia’s obligation to those states stems only from the international agreements Croatia signed with Germany and Switzerland, the explanation says.
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