October 18 (SeeNews) - Croatia's Chief State Prosecutor's Office (DORH) said on Wednesday it has sought pre-trial detention of all 15 people suspected of committing criminal offenses that led to the financial collapse of the country's largest concern Agrokor and put the whole economy in jeopardy.
The 15 people, 12 of whom were arrested on Monday, are suspected of being involved in the abuse of trust in business operations, forging of official documents and failure to keep business records in Agrokor, DORH said in a statement.
The pre-trial detention was sought to prevent the suspects from influencing witnesses, experts and participants in the proceedings, after 12 of them were interrogated on Tuesday.
Three suspects are out of reach, DORH confirmed. They are Agrokor owner and founder, Ivica Todoric, his son Ante, and Ivica's youngest son, Ivan.
According to Croatian media reports, 10 of the 12 arrested persons are top executives of Agrokor, while two are employees of accountancy and business advisory firm Baker Tilly Croatia - the auditor of the concern's 2015 and 2016 financial statements, which were revealed to contain huge accounting errors by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Former financial executive at Agrokor, Ivan Crnjac; senior executive vice-president Ljerka Puljic - Todoric's closest associate; Todoric's son-in-law and executive vice-president for central procurement and corporate services, Hrvoje Balent, are among the 10 people currently being detained at the premises of the country's Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (USKOK).
Local media have reported that during interrogation, Ivica Todoric was accused by one of the people arrested, Mislav Galic - a former Agrokor board member, who allegedly handed over a document proving the Agrokor owner was the only one in charge of finances in the concern.
Todoric, on the other hand, wrote on his blog late on Tuesday that the arrested executives "did absolutely nothing wrong".
“If there is any responsibility, and I'm sure there is not, it is exclusively mine”, Todoric added.
His lawyer, Cedo Prodanovic, said on Tuesday that his client was abroad as his children are employed there.
"He will be back when necessary", Prodanovic said.