In Croatia, leaving debts with an old company and establishing a new one is not unheard of.
Leaving debts with a bankrupt company and then establishing a new company with no debts is a practice apparently tolerated by Croatian laws, but not by foreigners. Representatives of the One Traveller travel agency from the United Kingdom, to whom the troubled Kompas Zagreb agency owes money, are starting to ask unpleasant questions and demanding answers from Croatian tourist authorities, reports Večernji List on October 23, 2018.
They cannot understand how it is possible that at the major tourism fair in London, the exhibition area of the Croatian National Tourist Board will feature the Kompas Zagreb Cruise agency, which is linked to the recently-collapsed Kompas Zagreb agency by both the owners and the same business address.
The British contacted the Ministry of Tourism and the Croatian National Tourist Board on 14 October, and then again on 17 October. In the first letter, they explained that they had paid Kompas Zagreb for a stay of a group of British guests in Cavtat, but that the money was not forwarded to the hotel and that they had to once again pay 15,000 euro.
One Traveller claims that Kompas Zagreb has left many of its business partners in similar problems (total debts are estimated to be in millions), and that Kompas Cruise is officially a new company, but that it is actually the same “disguised” team of people. They wonder how is it possible that the Croatian National Tourist Board is willing to join forces with such a company to take part in the London fair and allow it to represent the country.
On the other hand, the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) says everything is in order. The HTZ Main Office said that Kompas Cruise Zagreb had submitted its application form on time. “There is no legal basis for Kompas Cruise Zagreb, as a non-affiliated company to Kompas Zagreb, as the affiliation is defined by company law, to be burdened by debts which Kompas Zagreb has towards its partners,” said the HTZ.
Kompas Zagreb was bought by Matko Bolanča’s Inspire Fusion fond a year and a half ago. His company Creative Systems founded the Kompas Cruise agency on 11 July. In July, the first problems with the Kompas bank account started, and this was the last month in which the employees were properly paid their salaries. The motion for the launch of bankruptcy proceedings against Kompas Zagreb was filed on 12 October. On that day, Bolanča revealed that a criminal complaint with the prosecution has been filed, alleging that former owners were guilty of accounting fraud. On the same day, the former owners denied any wrongdoing.
Translated from Večernji List (reported by Radmila Kovačević).
