ZAGREB, April 20, 2018 – London’s Westminster Magistrates Court said on Friday that a decision on extradition of the Agrokor food and retail group’s founder Ivica Todorić, which should have been made on Friday, would be announced on Monday, 23 April.
This court told Hina they could not give any official information to the press, but confirmed that the decision would be made public at a hearing scheduled for 1130 hours local time (1230 hours CET) on Monday and that Todorić was supposed to attend the hearing.
Todorić was arrested in London on 7 November 2017 on a European arrest warrant issued by Croatia, and was released on a 100,000 pound bail the same day. The businessman had to hand over his passport and was also told to wear an electronic tag and report to police three times a week.
Todorić and 14 other people are being investigated in Croatia for a debt crisis at Agrokor, a company employing 60,000 people in Croatia and the region which was put under government administration in April 2017.
At a hearing held on 10 April in London on Croatia’s request for Todorić’s handover, his attorney Rosemarie Davidson claimed the proceedings against her client in Croatia were politically motivated and that he would be unnecessarily long in jail because the investigation was not nearly over.
Judge Emma Arbuthnot said the claim that the proceedings were politically motivated was a very weak argument.
Croatia’s attorney Clare Montgomery said only a trial could provide the right answer as evidence showed that Todorić had committed major crimes, that he borrowed money from Agrokor and did not pay debts.
