DORH: Investigation Launched for the Extraction of More than 800 Thousand Kuna from TLM

Due to illegal actions in the operations of Šibenik’s TLM and suspicion that they caused damage to the factory of more than 800 thousand kuna, the County State Attorney’s Office in Šibenik launched an investigation on Tuesday against Marijan Stričević (50) and Živko Lakoš (68), who held managerial positions at TLM Holding and TLM Aluminium in 2015 and 2016, and Israeli citizen Igor Shamis (62), who took over TLM in 2015, the office announced without naming the defendants or the company.

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The County State Attorney’s Office has reasonable suspicion that the first defendant Marijan Stričević, as a member of the management (director) of the holding, who held a 98.98 percent ownership stake in one company, the second defendant Igor Shamis as the actual owner and member of the company – holding, and the third defendant Živko Lakoš as the president of the management of that holding from February 24 to September 11, 2015, in Šibenik together and in agreement – in order to extract money from the company – holding for themselves and for others obtained undue property benefits – committed criminal acts of abuse of trust in economic business.

As is reasonably suspected, the first defendant Stričević, in agreement with the second defendant Shamis, “first obtained from the former owner of one company that, in the name of the receivables that this company had against the companies of the previous owner,” an amount of 100,000 euros in kuna equivalent was paid into the holding’s account. Stričević, although he had no legal basis for it, ordered the payment of 60,800 kuna to his account opened in one bank from the received transfer of 100,000 euros on April 27, 2015, presenting as the basis for payment an employment contract he did not have with the holding, but with a third company, and a payment of 4,000 euros to a personal account opened in another bank, thus paying himself more than 91,000 kuna.

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In April 2015, in agreement with Shamis, he paid 10,000 euros into his account in a foreign bank misrepresenting that it was a payment for services and ordered the payment of 142,000 kuna to the account of a company from Zagreb (the sole founder and director is an Israeli citizen, only formally registered in Zagreb) presenting this payment as “payment of an invoice” for allegedly performed business consulting services.

Stričević then, as stated, ordered that the holding pay for his plane ticket, accommodation in hotels in Šibenik and Zagreb, and travel club services, thereby obtaining an additional 112,089.70 kuna, or a total of 203,250.10 kuna to the detriment of the company, and also based on a joint agreement with Shamis ordered the payment of his bills and the bills of his family members and entourage (hotel and restaurant services) thus Shamis obtained a benefit greater than 178 thousand kuna, and his entourage a benefit of at least 46,948 kuna.

The third defendant Lakoš, as is reasonably suspected, in July 2015 at the request of Shamis ordered the holding to pay him 5,000 euros in kuna equivalent although there was no basis for it, thus the holding was damaged in total by more than 609,000 kuna.

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From March 12, 2015, to September 11, 2015, Stričević and Shamis as responsible persons in the first company from Šibenik, unjustifiably – with the intention of obtaining undue property benefits for themselves and others by extracting money from that company – ordered payments for travel and accommodation expenses in hotels in the areas of Šibenik and Zagreb for themselves and their family members and entourage. The same was done for the benefit of the second defendant by the third defendant, thus they obtained a total of more than 224,500 kuna to the detriment of the first company.

A proposal for the determination of investigative detention has been submitted against the second defendant, Israeli citizen Igor Shamis, to the investigating judge of the County Court in Šibenik.

The former owner of TLM, Igor Shamis, in July 2015 dismissed the entire management of TLM Aluminium with Marijan Stričević at the helm. Živko Lakoš from Adriatic Bank, as the largest creditor of TLM, was then appointed as the temporary administrator of TLM Aluminium. Last year, due to suspicion that they caused economic malversations that harmed TLM and Adriatic Bank for 170 million kuna, Tonći Kandido, a former member of TLM’s management, and former owners Marko and Loran Pejčinovski, from whom Shamis took over the factory, were suspected.