October 13 (SeeNews) - Accountancy and business advisory firm Baker Tilly Croatia, former auditor of the country's ailing food-to-retail concern Agrokor, has been excluded from the UK-based global network Baker Tilly International, the latter told SeeNews on Friday.
"I can confirm that Baker Tilly Croatia is no longer a member of Baker Tilly International", Rachel Spraggons, global head of communications for Baker Tilly International told SeeNews in an e-mailed statement.
Baker Tilly Croatia has been stripped of its authority to operate under the Baker Tilly brand, the company confirmed.
Baker Tilly Croatia audited Agrokor's financial statements for 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Earlier this week, an audit conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP revealed huge discrepancies in the concern's financial statement for the last several years, which resulted from accounting errors.
According to Croatian media reports, Russia's Sberbank is preparing to sue Baker Tilly, over the discrepancies shown by the new audit. Sberbank is one of Agrokor's largest creditors.
Agrokor has been in financial turmoil since January when Moody's downgraded its corporate family rating on the Croatian concern. Following Moody's decision, Agrokor pulled out of a syndicated loan deal it had struck with several international lenders, which sent the price of its bonds on international markets into a downward spiral.
In April, Agrokor named PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditor of its 2016 financial statements after preliminary probes revealed that potential accounting errors might have been committed.
Baker Tilly International is an accountancy and business advisory network represented by 126 member firms in 147 countries.