As 24sata writes on the 5th of December, 2018, Ivica Todorić, who was recently released from Remetinec prison following his eyebrow-raising payment of a million euros in bail, which he said was paid by friends, has decided to become politically active. On Wednesday, the 5th of December, 2018, he announced his political engagement once again and used the opportunity to criticise Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the Croatian Government, according to a report from N1.

We've translated his statement in full below:

''Dear all,

Today, following two years of Andrej Plenković's government, the Republic of Croatia is socially and economically completely destroyed, devastated, we have chaos and a dictatorship, we're seeing the destruction of institutions every day, we're the worst member of the EU, we're last on the list by all indicators, we're at the very bottom!

Today, the Republic of Croatia isn't a country of knowledge, it isn't a country [which respects] the rule of law, it isn't a country which cares about its demographic status, the economic position of its citizens, or the state itself.

At the same time, two years have passed since the launch of the plundering of Agrokor, a monstrous criminal project unseen in history in this part of the EU.

That is precisely the best example of corrupt antinational power, which has plagued the future of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia and has thrown the state on its knees.

I fought alone, and I'm still fighting [armed] with the truth and the facts about the crimes which were carried out over my company, my associates, and over me.

Throughout my life I've been giving to my homeland to Croatia, through the Agrokor project, building a modern, competitive industry that eventually became the largest in this part of the EU.

But now I look upon this dictatorship of Prime Minister Plenković, who pitilessly continues to inflict tremendous damage upon the Republic of Croatia, and who is destroying our homeland and its future.

Exactly because of the desire to change this catastrophic position of the Republic of Croatia, I decided to become politically active!

We in the Republic of Croatia need to gather all the potential of every individual to make the best use of our national wealth - forests, water, land, and our sea, in order to realise our national interests in the most functional way.

The Republic of Croatia must get started and become a country of knowledge that respects the rule of law. Severe, serious reforms and investment cycles need to be initiated literally overnight as [otherwise] it will be too late. Croatia needs to be transformed into the construction site for the future of our children and all citizens.

I'm sure that we will eradicate this corrupt, incompetent, dictatorial authority - to ensure a better future for our homeland of Croatia and for our children.

With respect,

Ivica Todorić''

Make sure to follow our dedicated politics page to stay up to date with the Croatian political scene and all of the former Agrokor boss' political moves.

Ivica Todorić's attorney, Jadranka Sloković, clarified a few things for N1 on the 21st of November, 2018, with regard to what can be expected next in Ivica Todorić's case, as well as on his planned political engagement, which he himself recently announced, much to the surprise of most.

Ivica Todorić is on parole, who can carry out precautionary measures?

"He'll carry them out himself, because he has to obey them - he has to be at his place of residence, in Zagreb.''

Todorić apparently has the right to free movement in Zagreb, but he mustn't leave the city without the explicit permission of the judge, and he's also had to hand over his passport.

''They will check all of that. He's too much of a well-known person to be able to just go anywhere," explained Sloković.

How is the investigation going, when can we expect the indictment?

"So far, between 60 and 70 witnesses have been questioned," stated the lawyer, which means that there are ''more witnesses than were initially scheduled for the investigation." Witness examination is, therefore, at an end. Problems could arise however, due to the situation being to do with a foreign company.

"We really think that this will be a problem, from knowledge of the language to knowledge of the regulations, which must be applied to certain situations,'' explained Sloković. She added that the result of the assessment is not expected to be arrived to particularly quickly, either.

"It's been announced, and a decision may have been reached now, to extend the investigation for another six months, which means that the investigation will last for at least eighteen months, after which a decision will be made as to whether an indictment will be filed or not, and the indictment may be brought by the prosecutor one month after the investigation has been completed, meaning that that period can be extended for another three months, so there's still a long way to go to the indictment.''

"As for the witnesses who've been questioned up to now - given the fact that this is a non-public investigation, I can't go into [can't discuss] the testimonies, but our stance is that the testimonies don't burden Ivica Todorić in any way whatsoever."

Was custody after extradition necessary, what do you have to say about the bail fee?

"Our position was that no detention was necessary and that everything could be solved with the precautionary measures that are applicable in this case, however, the court's view was that prison was needed, and that could be replaced by bail and precautionary measures. Essentially it was the same decision as that of the court in London,'' explained Sloković, adding that a lower bail amount and different precautionary measures were involved.

Ivica Todorić announced his political engagement, yet before him lies a lengthy court process?

"We still don't know in what way this process will be completed. No matter how optimistically it started, the question is what will be proven during the investigation - it's not certain that an indictment will be filed."

As for his announced political engagement, Sloković stated that such a move is entirely Todorić's decision.

"In one thing he's right - despite Agrokor's difficult destiny, he created respectable firms, there's no burned ground left behind him. He definitely has certain qualities and what he decides to do now is his choice," concluded Jadranka Sloković.

Keep up with all things related to Ivica Todorić here.

Click here for the original interview by N1 Hrvatska

Ivica Todorić paid his million euro sum and has now officially been released from Remetinec prison. How did he come upon such a large amount of cash, you ask? No idea, I respond. In the paradoxical land that is Croatia, everything is impossible and at the same time nothing is impossible, let's just say that.

Now he's free, at least for now, the former Agrokor boss has one or two new ambitions and obviously needs a new career path to venture down now that he's no longer at the seat of the country's largest privately owned company. What better path to take than the one he says ruined him and then conducted a witch hunt against him? Yes, politics.

Todorić's bail fee was set at 7.5 million kuna, and the catch was that it couldn't be paid in any other way except cold hard cash. His lawyers deemed this clause to be a tricky one to bypass, and Todorić's wish to be free seemed to have had cold water poured all over it, until yesterday when he managed to come up with a million euros in cash. You know, as you do.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of November, 2018, upon being asked just how he came upon a massive one million euros in cash, Ivica Todorić explained that a lot of people who contacted him themselves were ready and willing to help out with the bail fee. 

The first morning after leaving Remetinec prison, Ivica Todorić went to get his hair done. According to a report from 24sata, just as he did before leaving for London last year, Todorić went to one of the capital city's most well known hair salons, located on Bauer street (Ulica Antuna Bauera).

''I've come back with the ''old-new'' hairstyle. As far as bail is concerned, a lot of people helped me out, and they got in touch with me themselves. It's not fair for me to talk all about that now, everything will come to light. I'll win power and start turning Croatia in the right direction, I'm going to the elections,'' said Todorić for 24sata.

Keep up with Ivica Todorić's ever unusual antics by following our dedicated page. Keep up with the Croatian political scene by clicking here.

Ivica Todorić has been spending time in Zagreb's Remetinec prison since his extradition from Britain to Croatia to face trial for his alleged crimes in Agrokor, his former company. The trial however, still appears to have no set date, at least not publicly.

Despite his year long attempts and final appeal while living in London to stop the British decision to extradite him having failed, he continued to fight for his right to freedom following his arrival in Croatia, with his lawyers questioning why he needs to be behind bars when he poses no threat of influence over any witnesses.

In response to this, the Croatian authorities have claimed that while that might be true, his flight risk is still very high, especially given his ''trip'' to London, which lasted an entire year, at a very crucial time. Todorić himself still claims this was a pure coincidence, that he had to be in London for business, and that he wasn't escaping anything.

Recently, his freedom had a price of 7.5 million kuna placed on it, and while the former Agrokor boss may indeed possess that in assets, the clause was that it had to be paid in cold hard cash, which looked like it was about to throw a wet blanket on the entire idea. Until today.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 20th of November, 2018, Ivica Todorić's defense team sent their proposal to Zagreb County Court, and a confirmation of the payment having been paid is now being awaited, according to N1.

What this means is that Ivica Todorić has paid the one million euro bail fee, and Agrokor's former owner will likely soon be released from Remetinec. This information was confirmed to Telegram by a source close to the Todorić family.

Make sure to follow our news page and keep up with all things related to Ivica Todorić here.

Ivica Todorić's huge bail sum must be paid in cash. Just some spare change, then?

After a year-long stay in London, which was made up entirely of Ivica Todorić attempting to find a way out of the British extraditing him to Croatia to face trial, the former Agrokor boss returned to his country on the 7th of November, 2018, exactly one year after handing himself in to the Metropolitan police and paying a massive £100,000 bail fee for his relative freedom in the British capital.

His time in London was spent fighting his cause, from texts on his now infamous blog, to creating a YouTube channel and speaking directly to his audience, to then giving exclusive interviews when he felt those methods weren't enough.

Rumours of him having hired powerful British lawyers to help him fight his corner flew around, including one about him having engaged the formidable Michael O'Kane, a lawyer specialising in extradition from the United Kingdom, who has dealt with high profile, complicated cases involving the likes of the Russian mafia. 

It was all in vain, and after several delays and hearings, the British finally extradited the former tycoon back to Croatia. Just says after the order, Ivica Todorić was seen in London Heathrow awaiting a regular Croatia Airlines flight to Zagreb. He was escorted by police, his wife Vesna Todorić was not allowed to sit with him, and on board the aircraft (which was delayed), he was separated from all other passengers. He read English newspapers and ate nothing, drinking only Jana water, which was offered to him by the Croatia Airlines stewardesses. 

Although photography was strictly forbidden on board, some managed, and when Todorić was asked how he was feeling, he said he ''felt good'', which is much more than could be said of his wife, Vesna, who was visibly shaken and provided a statement to those on board that her husband was innocent and that he had misappropriated nothing from Agrokor.

Upon landing at Zagreb's Franjo Tudjman Airport, Vesna went home and Ivica Todorić was taken by the police, away from the main passenger terminal, to a police van which was already waiting for him, and directly to Remetinec prison in Zagreb.

Since being imprisoned, Todorić's lawyer, Jadranka Sloković, who has been with him throughout his ordeal in both Croatia and Britain, have sought bail, claiming that Todorić has no reason to be kept behind bars as he poses no threat of influencing witnesses. The Croatian authorities have in turn argued that while that may be true, there is a risk of flight. His earlier ''trip'' to London confirming that concern.

With that being said, has a potential resolve been reached for the former Agrokor boss? 

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of November, 2018, a bail amount of 7.5 million kuna has been set for Todorić, and if that amount is paid in cash, he can leave Remetinec. Zagreb County Court's spokesman Kresimir Devčić confirmed this.

As stated, the cash amount of 7.5 million kuna must be paid in cash for Todorić to taste freedom before his trial, the date of which still remains unknown as yet.

Follow all you need to know about Ivica Todorić here.

Ivica Todorić returned to Croatia a few days ago following the British decision to extradite him to Croatia to face trial for his alleged crimes within his former company, the gigantic Agrokor Group. Todorić raised the enormous company from its very roots decades ago, employed around 60,000 people, and became one of the most powerful people in not only Croatia, but the wider region. What goes up, however, must eventually come down, and things couldn't have taken more of a 360 turn for the former Agrokor boss if they tried.

From a luxurious life in Kulmerovi dvori up in the hills above Zagreb and gracing the glossy pages of Forbes magazine, to being on the run and appearing as one of Europol's most wanted, to paying £100,000 to the British authorities for relative freedom to live in London on tag for a year, to being extradited to Croatia on a regular Croatia Airlines flight (which was also delayed), and then taken to Zagreb's Remetinec prison. Whoever said life could be predictable? 

Just how does one of Croatia's most formidable characters spend his time behind bars as he awaits trial? 

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 10th of November, 2018, Ivica Todorić, as his wife Vesna said, was actually pleased with the conditions in Remetinec and shares his cell with an individual who is currently serving time behind bars for a fairly petty criminal act.

Todorić and his cellmate must clean up their cell every day, and they do so after getting up at seven o'clock in the morning. For about half an hour after that, which is about as much time as there is between waking up and being given breakfast, which is brought to them in their cell - they have time for personal hygiene and similar things.

Lunch comes at 13:00. If Todorić has any health problems, such as autoimmune conditions, allergies, diseases or intolerances which require a different diet, his menu will be adjusted to him in accordance with a doctor's recommendations. In addition to the menus prescribed by a doctor in the case of potential food issues, prisoners have the right to a religious and a vegetarian menu. For Easter and Christmas, a traditional meal is served, and the daily intake is 3000 calories, according to a report from Večernji list.

After lunch comes time for a rest, and dinner is served at 19:00. During the day, prisoners are provided with a two-hour walk through the prison circle. There are three walkways in Remetinec. The men and the women are separated for this also.

Showering happens at least once a week, it can be more frequent, but it doesn't occur every day.

Television can be watched until 23:00, and on Fridays, Saturdays, holidays, and for the duration of any sort of football championship, for an hour longer. After that time, it's lights out. Visits are on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and the first and third Sunday of the month, and visitation permission is given by the competent investigating judge.

Find out more about Ivica Todorić here.

Ivica Todorić has returned to Croatia after more than a year in London, having landed on the territory of a country in which he is no longer the owner of the largest regional company. Exactly one year after handing himself in in the British capital, living under the watchful eye of the Metropolitan police and after an agonisingly long court battle, Agrokor's former untouchable main man returned to his homeland utterly powerless. A far cry from the not so distant reality Todorić once enjoyed, having once owned his own private island, Smokvica.

As Jutarnji/Vanja Nezirovic writes on the 9th of November, 2018, unlike back on the 10th of April 2017, when he signed Lex Agrokor, which activated the law to allow the Croatian Government to step in and rescue Agrokor, and unlike in the autumn of the same year when he temporarily "emigrated" to London, Agrokor's largest single owner is now Russia's Sberbank with a 39.2 percent stake. The settlement was a long and painfully complex process, however, in order to execute such a settlement, creditors, primarily financial lenders, had to write off a large part of their claims, around 60 percent.

Namely, the exact amount and percentage of the final write-off of the creditor's claims will be known at the time when Agrokor is sold. To recall, on April the 10th, 2017, Agrokor had 7.7 billion euro in debt, of which about 1.5 billion euro was debt within the group, which means that the debt to third parties actually amounted to about 6.2 billion euro.

If we know that the framework calculations of Agrokor's value are projected at about 2.3 billion euro, this would mean that the creditors, primarily financially (based on this nominal projection), were forced to give up an enormous total of about 4 billion euro. This was the price of the survival of Agrokor, which for now, following these write-offs, has a debt of 1.06 billion euro in so-called roll up loans.

Agrokor's medium and large suppliers have so far averaged 60 percent of their claims for goods and services, were paid 500 million euro in cach for old debts, with 46 percent of them having a return of between 80 and 100 percent. When the rest of the debt is paid out over four years, and when part of Agrokor's property is converted, their return will amount to about 80 percent. The bonds' return rate ranges between 40 percent and 80 percent, while the largest number of domestic and foreign financial institutions and other creditors will have an average return on demand of up to 20 percent.

At the time of signing Lex Agrokor, Todorić's Agrokor Group was blocked in the amount of 3 billion kuna, and it was naturally expected that this dire situation could lead to Croatia into a short-term recession. The possibility of Agrokor's bankcruptcy could have, according to CNB/HNB (Croatian National Bank) projections, lead to several smaller banks entering into a very dangerous situation indeed, yet while the banking system luckily remained stable, the losses bigger banks suffered were felt almost immediately.

Even with the implementation of a specially regulated bankruptcy proceeding through Lex Agrokor, several contract suppliers ended up in bankruptcy or having to undertake pre-bankruptcy proceedings, some stabilised the recapitalisation of third parties, some are still awaiting ownership and business restructuring, but a stronger economic and social shock was thankfully avoided.

Today, Agrokor's debt has been reduced to levels that should be viable, things are generally much more stable and the company is expected to return to normal function in 2019. The results of companies like Jamnica and Ledo, are once again very good, Konzum seems to be more than just recovering, but some other companies from within the large Agrokor umbrella, like Velpro and Konzum BiH (Bosnia and Herzegovina) are still very vulnerable.

It's also clear that agricultural companies such as Vupik will need some more time to recover properly, but the overall picture of the company today is much more healthy than it was a year ago, thanks to the current extraordinary commissioner, Fabris Peruško.

That means that the Croatian economy, a much more than significant part of which is made up by Agrokor, has gone from being under grave threat, to being more stable, more safe, and more competitive.

Want to keep up with the latest news and detailed information on Ivica Todorić and his swapping of London for Remetinec prison? Make sure to follow everything here.

Click here for the original article by Vanja Nezirovic for Jutarnji List

The list of charges against Ivica Todorić are as incredible as they are damning, but will this just be another situation without any real end?

As tportal/Zoran Korda writes on the 8th of November, 2018, just ten days after the British decided to finally extradite Ivica Todorić to Croatia to face trial for his alleged crimes within the giant Agrokor Group, he arrived in the Croatian capital of Zagreb.

After spending the night in Remetinec prison following a regular Croatia Airlines flight to Franjo Tudjman Airport from London Heathrow, the former owner of Agrokor should now go before the investigative judge of the Zagreb County Court, faced with allegations of malversations that damaged his former company for a massive 1.6 billion kuna.

Let's take a look back at just what the charges against Ivica Todorić are.

During the first investigation which launched back in October last year, Todorić, along with his sons Ante and Ivan and another dozen former senior Agrokor managers and auditors, are suspected of multiple criminal acts in doing business, including the forgery of documents.

The main point of the investigation was focused on deception involving financial statements over the last ten years. The initial suspicion was based on the results of a PwC audit, which found that by concealing the real costs and debts, and by overestimating the company's gains, Todorić unlawfully paid the dividend.

This came to a total of 720 million kuna, which was apparently paid to Todorić, more specifically his Dutch company Adria Group Holding BV, for quite a number of years.

Todorić is also suspected of misusing Agrokor's money for the launch of an initial public shares offer (IPO), for collecting fresh capital and listing Agrokor on the London Stock Exchange. The audit found that a sum of about two billion kuna intended for this purpose was mostly used to cover his personal expenses.

The former owner of Agrokor is also charged for withdrawing money from Agrokor to finance his personal financial operations. He is therefore suspected of having embezzled around 650 million kuna in complex financial transactions for the purchase of Agrokor's shares by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

A loan of 192 million kuna, approved by Agrokor, was used for interest payments for PIK (payment in kind) bonds, issued back in 2014 for Mercator's takeover. Todorić was formally obliged to return this borrowed money from the future dividends of Agrokor. However, the money was never returned, and the loans didn't present themselves in the balance, but were instead classified as cash.

There is also a suspicion of him having organised the undercover financing of the company through a monopoly business in order to attempt to properly conceal the actual debt situation. In this way, the overall figure was falsely cut by as much as 1.5 billion kuna.

A second investigation was launched in December last year, and that relates to illegal loans which the private investment fund Nexus Private Equity gave to Agrokor back in 2016, through the Nexus company.

In the ongoing legal proceedings so far, the prosecution has examined 16 out of 17 witnesses and can't actually get to the last of them all because the individual in question lives in the Netherlands and is a citizen of that country.

Still to come is the very extensive financial and auditing expertise carried out by the KPMG audit firm, which should be completed by the end of the year.

While it has been reported that Todorić is set to remain in custody for now, owing to an apparent ''flight risk'', the belief still remains that Todoric will likely await his actual trial in freedom, as there is no longer any danger of him or others influencing any witnesses.

Want to keep up with the charges against Ivica Todorić now he's back in Croatia? Stay up to date here.

Click here for the original article by Zoran Korda for tportal

ZAGREB, November 8, 2018 - Zagreb County Court on Thursday evening decided that the founder and former owner of the Agrokor conglomerate, Ivica Todorić, who is under suspicion of siphoning more than a billion kuna from the conglomerate, will remain in investigative custody where he was incarcerated on Wednesday evening after being extradited from England.

Todorić was brought to Zagreb County Court to attend a hearing at which an investigative judge heard the defence's proposal for Todorić to be released on bail as all the witnesses had been questioned, and the prosecution's request that he remain in custody due to flight risk.

Todorić's attorney Jadranka Sloković said that investigative custody was set this time due to flight risk and that the court did not accept bail in the amount that a court in London had accepted.

Sloković said earlier that the defence believed that there were no grounds to extend custody. She added that Todorić had not fled but happened to be in England with the Agrokor case emerged, that there was no siphoning of money into a private account and that all the money remained in Agrokor's account.

Todorić and his sons, Ivan and Ante, and 12 other former Agrokor executives are suspected of unlawfully siphoning more than a billion kuna from Agrokor.

Even though it was assumed that after Todorić was extradited and placed in Remetinec jail he would be questioned by the Zagreb county prosecutor today already, that did not occur in the end.

For more on Ivica Todorić, click here.

People often say that less is more, and that can apply to words, too. Former Economy Minister Martina Dalić, once one of the most powerful women in Croatia, was short and not so sweet in her comments about Ivica Todorić's extradition from London to Croatia to face trial for his alleged crimes in Agrokor.

Martina Dalić is a controversial character who was heavily involved in the entire Agrokor saga from start to finish. Close to Agrokor's extraordinary administration proceedings from the beginning, the former Deputy Prime Minister has been shrouded in suspicion for a while, particularly since the discovery of her having used a simple Hotmail email account to discuss extremely sensitive matters with other involved individuals, known as the Hotmail Affair, which saw her leave her position at Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's side.

One thing that stands out when it comes to Dalić is Todorić's previous insisting, via his now somewhat infamous blog, that she had been sending him and his family members threatening emails and messages, in an apparent attempt, in his words, to blackmail him into singing Lex Agrokor, a law which in itself, despite having allowed the government to intervene and rescue Agrokor as a company, boasts more question marks than it does clear answers.

Of course, people ignored Todorić's often rather bizarre allegations which he had a tendency to fire at all and sundry across the political scene in Croatia, claiming Plenković had given him chocolates at midnight was one of the stranger statements. When the Hotmail Affair raised its ugly head, however, people recalled what Todorić had written about all those months ago online, and although she allowed DORH to investigate all of the electronic devices she uses for communication, a move though which she proved her innocence at least in this matter, nobody was laughing anymore and the seeds of doubt about Martina Dalić were planted in the minds of many.

Ivica Todorić was finally extradited to Croatia last night following the British decision to reject his appeals and push forward with his removal from the United Kingdom, where he'd been living for the past year under the watchful eye of the British authorities after handing himself in to the metropolitan police and paying a hefty bail fee. Todorić spent the night in Remetinec prison in Zagreb, and you can read more about what happened last night here.

Martina Dalić was of course asked for her thoughts and opinions on Todorić's extradition to Croatia, and she was in no real rush to provide a response. In fact her lack of desire to even discuss the matter was surprising given her level of involvement in the Agrokor case. With the ex Agrokor boss' extradition happening so soon after the publishing and promotion of her brand new book on the matter, a book which has also been met with appreciation and disgust across the board, one would assume she'd have quite a bit to say.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 8th of November, 2018, insistant journalists urged her to comment on the extradition of Ivica Todorić to Croatia, and Dalić was very short.

Her obvious lack of desire caused journalists to insist on her providing a response to the extradition from London, about which she was extremely short and blunt:

"That's not something I'd be interested in," she said.

As Novi List reports, Martina Dalić is currently in Opatija where she is part of a panel entitled "Economic Reforms: A solution or a problem?". Agrokor's current extraordinary commissioner, Fabris Peruško, is also participating in the event.

Want to keep up with more news about Todorić's case now he's back in Croatia? Make sure to stay up to date with our news page.