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Former Agrokor Owner Will Be Extradited To Croatia

London's High Court ruled on Thursday that the former owner of food giant Agrokor, Ivica Todoric, will be extradited to Croatia, where he is wanted for questioning over fraud allegations.
Ivica Todoric. Photo: Beta

Croatian tycoon and former owner of indebted food giant Agrokor, will be extradited to Croatia after Judge Duncan Ouseley in London’s High Court handed down his verdict on Thursday, making the first-instance verdict final.

Following the ruling, Todoric spoke to reporters outside of the court, saying he is “ready for anything, even for Remetinec”, referring to the prison in Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, where he will be held while the allegations against him are investigated.

“I admit, I’m a bit disappointed, but I’m continuing my fight,” Todoric said.

Todoric is accused of various types of fraud while he was the owner of Agrokor, which he founded in 1976; the company is said to employ over 60,000 people and is of large significance to Croatia’s economy.

He was accompanied in court by his lawyers from Croatia, as well as by his defence lawyer in the UK James Hines and Cherie Blair, the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

During the hearing, Hines spent an hour and a half arguing for Todoric not be extradited.

London’s Westminster Magistrates Court in April this year ruled that there are no legal obstacles for Ivica Todoric to be extradited to Croatia. Todoric’s lawyers had failed to prove that he was a victim of political persecution in his home country.

Todoric appealed the judgment. His lawyer Hines asked, at the hearing in September, for additional time to submit an application for appeal, claiming to have new evidence.

The founder and owner of the ailing Croatian company turned himself in to police in London in November 2017, when he was promptly arrested under a European arrest warrant issued against him.

Todoric was interrogated before Westminster Magistrates Court, and released later on bail for 100,000 pounds sterling.

He was ordered to surrender his travel documents, wear an electronic tag between midnight and 3am, and report to police in Kensington, west London, every day.

Croatia’s biggest private company found itself in financial trouble from the beginning of 2017.

Due to the company’s size and economic importance, Croatia’s parliament intervened to rescue it, passing a Law on Procedures for Extraordinary Management in Companies of Systematic Significance in April.

Under the law, nicknamed the Lex Agrokor, the company was put under 15-month state management, to restructure the company, cover its debts and sell off the more profitable parts of the group.

Although he gave up his company to state management the day after the law took power, Todoric later claimed that he had only done so under pressure – and that he was a victim of political persecution.

The company’s role in the economy of Croatia is massive, with revenues of 6.5 billion euros in 2015 – almost 16 per cent of Croatia’s total GDP – and around 40,000 employees.

After more than a year of searching for solutions to Croatia’s heavily indebted food and retail company Agrokor, the company’s creditors reach the settlement in July 2018 and took over the company.

The biggest shareholder of Agrokor will now be Russia’s Sberbank, with 39.2 per cent of the shares in the new company.

It will be followed by bond holders, with 25 per cent, another Russian bank, VTB, with 7.5 per cent, and Zagrebacka Banka, with 2.3 per cent.

Read more: 

Agrokor Settlement Likely to End in Lawsuits

UK Court Backs Agrokor Chief’s Extradition to Croatia

Ivica Todoric: Croatia’s Tycoon Who Wanted Too Much