ZAGREB, February 2, 2018 - Economy Minister Martina Dalić said on Friday that empty political laments, political declarations and the counting of consultants on ethnic grounds would not restructure Agrokor or save jobs, adding that "a political circus" and "an inarticulate attempt to stop the restructuring" were taking place.
Asked by the press about consultants in the indebted group, she said the names of all the companies hired as consultants were made public months ago. "What's happening here and this attempt to create a political circus is a result of the fact that, with Agrokor's collapse, numerous interest relations created over the years collapsed too. And this represents an inarticulate attempt to stop the restructuring process, to stop Agrokor's transformation into a normal company which functions on the market and which, within itself and together with its partners, functions in fair market relations."
Dalić said that "from the very start, some politicians, some political exponents, have been working on stopping this process and they are doing all they can to stop it." Some political representatives "are particularly prominent in their so-called political assessments, yet their only trait is that they have never actually worked anywhere," she added.
Dalić said that she, together with everyone working on this process, would do her best, using all of her knowledge and professional experience, for the settlement process to be completed and for Agrokor and all its companies and creditors to continue to live and work. "And that means that they continue to hire and provide for the livelihoods of tens of thousands of persons, for tens of thousands of workers."
Asked if she trusted the emergency administrator in Agrokor, Ante Ramljak, Dalić said the creditors council oversaw the emergency administration's work, approving all of Ramljak's material decisions, and recalled that the council said that it supported the work of the emergency administration and the consultants. "I have nothing more to add," she said.
Dalić said the creditors managed the process and that it was on their behalf and for them that the whole process was being implemented, in order to reach a settlement and ensure that Agrokor and all its companies and creditors continued to live.
"But one is forgetting in this whole circus that Agrokor has a debt of over 57 billion kuna, a debt incurred by the former management, a debt incurred by the former owner, billions in expenses, as the audit report showed, which were not recorded, suppliers who were in deep trouble as they could not collect their claims, who were hostages to Agrokor's size for a long time. That's the essence of this process, to restructure Agrokor, reach a settlement and make sure that Agrokor and its companies live. All else are diversions, political lamentations and attempts to stop this process."
Asked if she knew the consultants, Dalić said, "Of course I know them. I have been living, working in this economy over 25 years and I know those people, just as I know the majority of Croatian business people, in the same way many others know them."
