Defense attorney for Piruška Canjuga, Anto Nobilo, will propose that the Minister of Finance, Zdravko Marić, who was one of the directors at Agrokor before his ministerial duties, be questioned as a witness in the Agrokor case investigation.
Recalling a statement in which Marić recently said that he believed in the data presented to him because that is the only way a large system can function, Nobilo told Hina that he is an important witness who should explain how financial reports were prepared.
Marić is an important witness
“If Zdravko Marić believed the services of Agrokor, and I believe him that it was so, then he is an important witness to explain how financial reports were prepared, who presented them, who knew the data, and to whom they were presented,” said Nobilo.
>>>Miodrag Šajatović: Todorić had to come from London and share the fate of his managers
If Marić had reason to believe in the correctness of those reports, then Piruška Canjuga, who is not a financial expert, certainly had reason to believe as well, Nobilo asserted.
The attorney concluded that some trust in Agrokor’s financial department must exist, and that not everyone, even if they were a board member, could conduct an audit of financial reports and business records.
“In these circumstances, Marić is important to us because he said that this is how it functioned in Agrokor and that he believed those balances as a correct document,” said Nobilo.
>>>12 Agrokor managers and auditors released from custody; Todorić has 3 days to return
The Zagreb County State Attorney’s Office has initiated an investigation against Ivica Todorić, his sons Ivan and Ante Todorić, and 12 Agrokor managers and auditors for the illegal acquisition of as much as 1 billion and 142 million kuna, who were released on Wednesday to defend themselves from freedom after the Zagreb County Court ordered investigative detention only for Ivica Todorić.
The total damage includes an undue benefit of an additional 320 million kuna obtained for “one legal entity” through document forgery and illegal bookkeeping.
No questioning of first witnesses before Monday
Although Ante Todorić’s attorney announced the imminent return of his client to Croatia, this has not yet happened.
Nobilo expects that the questioning of the first witnesses at the County State Attorney’s Office will not begin before Monday because the decision on the investigation, which the defense has the right to appeal, must become final. Nobilo says he will not appeal the decision to initiate the investigation, and he is not aware of what the other defenders will do.
>>>HBOR approved 25 loans to Agrokor worth over 900 million kuna in ten years
If Ivica Todorić does come to Croatia, he will be brought in as a suspect for questioning, and his sons will be invited in the regular manner to state whether they wish to provide their defense, as other suspects have done or have stated that they do not wish to do so.
Regardless of the fact that no investigative detention has been ordered against them, they must respond to what is being charged against them, says Nobilo.
