LONDON (Reuters) – A London court ruled on Thursday that Ivica Todoric, founder of beleaguered food production and retail conglomerate Agrokor, should not be allowed to appeal against his extradition to Croatia to face allegations of fraud involving tens of millions of euros.
Croatian businessman Ivica Todoric emerges from the Royal Courts of Justice with one of his legal team, Cherie Booth, after the court ruled on his extradition, in London, Britain, October 25, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
Todoric is being investigated in Croatia over the crisis at Agrokor, the largest private company in the Balkans with about 60,000 employees.
He denies any wrongdoing and says Croatia has launched a politically motivated process against him.
“Whilst I am very disappointed by todays ruling, it will not stop me from exposing rampant corruption at the very top of the Croatian government and holding those involved accountable,” Todoric said after the hearing at the High Court.
“I will not be intimidated by the politically and financially motivated attacks against me,” he added.
Agrokor was put under state-run administration more than a year ago after an overly ambitious expansion drive left it weighed down by borrowings.
An audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) showed a net loss in 2015 of 3.6 billion kuna ($565 million) against a net profit of 1.2 billion kuna released by the previous management.
Todorics extradition was approved by a London court in April.
Reporting By Alistair Smout; writing by Andrew MacAskill; editing by Stephen Addison
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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