ZAGREB, Dec 2, 2020 – The Razvoj Golf company has sued the City of Dubrovnik for the damage resulting from the purchase of 38,000 square meters of farmland on the Srdj hill overlooking the city in 2009, the company said on Tuesday.
Eleven years after Croatia launched legal proceedings, it was established that the city was not authorized to sell the land, as a result of which Razvoj Golf lost both the land and the HRK 2.7 million paid for it, the company said.
Due to the absence of a peaceful resolution and the upcoming expiry of the statute of limitations, Razvoj Golf has launched legal proceedings to protect its rights, the company said, adding that it remained open for a peaceful resolution.
NGOs: Frenkel has launched second arbitration against Croatia
Representatives of the Green Action and Srdj Is Ours NGOs said on Wednesday that Razvoj Golf owner Aaron Frenkel had filed a new arbitration request against Croatia due to a golf course project on Srdj based on the Croatia-Israel investment protection agreement.
Enes Cerimagic told the press in Dubrovnik that Frenkel was filing the new request at a time when it was likely that the first one would not succeed.
“We assume that it’s again about the half-a-billion-euros damages claim. They are showing that they don’t care about either European environmental law or European law, but are trying to bypass the European legal order. We will get involved in all future proceedings whose only goal is to take half a billion euros from Croatian citizens’ pockets,” he said.
Razvoj Golf demanded about HRK 300,000 in damages from Green Action as well as criminal accountability for damaging its reputation.
Djuro Capor said Srdj Is Ours had warned Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic a number of times that Croatia must withdraw from bilateral agreements such as the one with Israel because they risked taxpayers’ money due to “a corrupt and broker’s project.”
“It’s especially dangerous that… those who served the interest of the Razvoj Golf company are still publicly active,” he said.
Capor and Cerimagic said the ruling HDZ party’s Dubrovnik branch should pay for the possible damage incurred in the sale of the land on Srdj.
Capor said the sale was carried out in 2009 by the then-mayor Dubravka Suica (HDZ) and that the HDZ’s Dubrovnik branch “is responsible for the mistakes”.
He said the current city administration was not innocent either as Mayor Mato Frankovic (HDZ) kept mum about the company’s actions for years.
