Slovenia’s refusal to recognise Lex Agrokor has put a much needed spring in Todorić’s step.
Not everything has gone so well for the Croatian Government of late, and the wider acceptance and recognition of the controversial Lex Agrokor – a law which was penned solely to apply to ”companies of economic significance to the state”, which essentially means Agrokor in Croatia’s case – is one of them.
As we recently reported, neighbouring Slovenia boldly stated that it didn’t recognise Lex Agrokor, in yet another uncomfortable blow to Croatia in continued awkward and strained relations between the two countries.
Of course, it didn’t take Agrokor’s former majority owner and boss long to latch onto Slovenia’s refusal to recognise the law and use it to his benefit in his ongoing fight against the Croatian state, run by a government he believes to be conspiring against him personally.
We bring you Ivica Todorić’s blog post translated into English in full below:
”The Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia made the final decision that the procedure of the [Agrokor’s] extraordinary administration, i.e, Lex Agrokor and its effects, are not recognised in the Republic of Slovenia. Apart from being the highest court of this country, which is a member of the European Union, and has almost identical laws to the Republic of Croatia, that decision is significant for the very reasons stated in the explanatory statement, which clearly and unambiguously confirms everything that I’ve said so far about Lex [Agrokor] – Lex [Agrokor] is deeply unconstitutional!
The reasons stated in the explanation by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia are:
The court finds that Lex [Agrokor] has not ensured respect for the principle of the equal treatment of the creditors, which is one of the fundamental principles of insolvency proceedings.
In the view of the court, it is unacceptable that the assets and the liabilities of all the companies in the group are considered to be one single common asset, and are shared by all of the creditors, instead of the creditors being paid from the assets of only those companies to which they’re obliged.
The court states that foreign legal literature has also found deficiencies in the so-called “material consolidation”, i.e, asset allocation, implemented by Lex [Agrokor].
The court finds that the above-mentioned “aggregate settlement” for all of the companies in one proceeding leads to the nonsense that the creditor of a particular company may object to the claim of another creditor from another company in the same proceedings (between which there should be no relationship).
The court finds that Lex [Agrokor] allows for the procedure to be extended to the solvent members of the group (to the companies over which the proceeding should not be conducted, because there are no insolvency reasons over those companies).
The court finds that the debt restructuring should be carried out in such a way as to protect the interests of the creditor. According to Lex [Agrokor], this is not allowed.
The court states that Lex [Agrokor] permits the priority settlement of the claims of selected creditors, as well as those due claims arising prior to the decision on the initiation of the extraordinary administration proceedings.
The court condemns the very arbitrary right of the extraordinary commissioner.
The court finds that “the procedure of extraordinary administration is coordinated with the interests of the state and not with the protection of the interests of the creditor, because it does not allow them equal treatment or an equal settlement”.
The court finds that ZPIUTD (Lex Agrokor) does not provide the creditors with their basic rights, it does not allow them at least the very minimum of those rights in accordance with the principle of the minimal protection of the creditors in the extraordinary administration procedure, they would not be in a worse position than in bankruptcy!
The court finds that the equal treatment of creditors is the principle of Slovenian law, as well as [the principle of] “the basic value of the European (insolvent) public order”, and considering that basic European public order, Lex [Agrokor] shouldn’t be recognised [when taken in view of] its accordance with European public order!
From all of the foregoing, it’s clear that Lex Agrokor is deeply uncontitutional and contrary to the law of the European Union. Lex Agrokor’s current effects are the cause of incredible unlawfulness, and the only way to prevent the further collapse of [Croatia’s] constitutional values and the law of the Republic of Croatia, is to abolish Lex Agrokor.
Ivica Todorić’s blog post translated in full from ivicatodoric.hr
