October 24 (SeeNews) - Croatia's Chief State Prosecutor's Office (DORH) said on Tuesday it has issued a European arrest warrant for Ivica Todoric, owner of Croatia's ailing concern Agrokor.
"DORH can not give any further information. But, yes, a European arrest warrant has been issued," Martina Mihordin, a spokesperson for DORH, told SeeNews over the phone.
In a separate statement sent to SeeNews, Croatia's ministry of the interior said that upon receiving the European arrest warrant the country's police has launched measures to track down Ivica Todoric at the international level.
Todoric, his two sons, and 12 other business associates are under investigation for suspected wrongdoing at Agrokor that led Croatia's largest privately-held concern to the brink of collapse earlier this year.
The European arrest warrant has greater strength than the warrant DORH issued for Todoric over the weekend, which formally declared him a fugitive from justice in Croatia.
Under the European arrest warrant, the authorities of EU member states are expected to arrest and transfer Todoric to Croatia so that he can be put into pre-trial detention, which was ordered by a Zagreb county court earlier this month.
The European arrest warrant, applied throughout the EU, replaced lengthy extradition procedures within the EU's territorial jurisdiction. It came into force on January 1, 2004 and is founded on the principle of direct contacts between the judicial authorities.
The fact that DORH has now issued a European arrest warrant suggests that Croatian police have located Todoric on the territory of the EU. Had DORH had indications that Agrokor's owner was outside of the EU, they would have likely opted for a red Interpol notice.
The Agrokor group employs some 60,000 people throughout the states of the former Yugoslavia.
In April, the Croatian government stepped in to prevent the collapse of indebted Agrokor by appointing a receiver under a special law governing the management of companies of systemic importance for the country's economy. Todoric was stripped of his managerial rights under the law popularly known as Lex Agrokor but remains owner of the concern.