Hrvoj Šipek: It Is Not Possible to Predict the Outcome of the Arbitration Proceedings in the Agrokor Case, the Dispute Raises a Number of Questions

The Chief State Attorney Zlata Hrvoj Šipek stated that it is not possible to predict the outcome of the arbitration proceedings in the Agrokor case, and that everything will depend on what the plaintiff states in the lawsuit and what evidence is submitted.

– It is not possible to predict the outcome of the arbitration proceedings because the plaintiff still needs to submit their lawsuit and provide the evidence on which they base their claim, there is no doubt that this is a complex dispute that raises a number of questions. Everything will depend on what the plaintiff states in the lawsuit and what evidence is submitted, and this will also depend on our conception of the response to the lawsuit and strategy – said Hrvoj Šipek at the beginning of the thematic session of the Parliamentary Justice Committee on the topic ‘Agrokor and the Legal Status of the Republic of Croatia’.

The impetus for the thematic session of the Parliamentary Justice Committee was the decision of the High Criminal Court that the accounting-financial expertise, which represents key evidence against the former owner of Agrokor Ivica Todorić and other suspects, is illegal. The expertise was conducted by KPMG, which was in a conflict of interest as it was simultaneously working for the DORH and Agrokor. The expertise cost 1.3 million euros and lasted more than a year. Additionally, the acceptance of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington (ICSID) of Ivica Todorić’s lawsuit against the Republic of Croatia regarding the takeover of Agrokor was also an impetus.

Malenica: The State Was Neither the Owner of the Former Agrokor Nor Is It

Justice Minister Ivan Malenica recalled the circumstances of 2017 when the collapse of Agrokor threatened and losses of several tens of thousands of jobs. The entire process went without cost to taxpayers, and the extraordinary administration procedure was not initiated by the Government but by the company’s leaders, he said.

– The state was neither the owner of the former Agrokor nor is it, nor was ownership taken away from anyone – emphasized the minister.

Regarding the expertise in the Agrokor case, Malenica stated that the Ministry of Justice provided funds for the implementation of the expertise at the request of the DORH, just as it provides funds for expertise in all other cases.

Hrvoj Šipek responded to Stephen Nikola Bartulica (DP), when asked who is responsible for the debacle regarding the expertise, that she did not participate in decision-making and the selection of experts, but that an analysis is underway and that she is responsible as a leader because she in good faith entrusted her deputies and the people working on it.

She did not want to disclose the name of the deputy working on the analysis of the failed expertise so that they would not be under pressure and emphasized that it is a long period during which many decisions were made and that the analysis will take time.

She could not specifically answer Peđa Grbin (SDP) when the continuation of the proceedings is expected because the Tribunal will set deadlines, and generally, she added, it takes three to six months.

– We are collecting data and preparing – she stated.

In response to Karolina Vidović Krišto’s (OIP) question about manipulating the balance in Agrokor and Todorić’s use of the castle in which he lives, she stated that several cases are still ongoing in the investigation phase.

– Six cases have been established in which investigations entrusted to the police are ongoing. We have raised 15 indictments against 54 individuals that have not yet been confirmed. Work is still ongoing on the cases – stated Hrvoj Šipek.