An opening session in Croatian businessman Ivica Todorić's extradition proceedings started in a London court on Tuesday morning. Todorić is wanted in Croatia for his involvement in the collapse of his retail and food group Agrokor.

Todorić arrived at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday accompanied by his wife and his Croatian lawyers Čedo Prodanović and Jadranka Sloković.

Todorić was arrested in London in November 2017 on a European arrest warrant issued by Croatia, and was released on a £100,000 bail the same day. The entrepreneur had to hand over his passport and wear an electronic tag, as well as report to the police three times a week. The hearings were scheduled for April before the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, which handles extradition cases.

Todorić and 14 other people are under investigation in Croatia over circumstances that created a debt crisis at Agrokor, the largest company in the country employing 60,000 people across the region and which was found to owe €7.6 billion to its creditors.

In the wake of the crisis which started in early 2017, the Croatian government passed a special law which allowed it to take control of the company in April 2017. The law also allowed it to appoint a crisis manager tasked with an orderly restructuring of the company’s many holdings.