Former Agrokor owner Ivica Todoric has been acquitted of charges that he and three of his associates defrauded the now defunct agricultural and food conglomerate of €1.25 million, Zagreb County Court ruled on Wednesday.

Former Agrokor managers Ante Huljev and Piruska Canjuga and the fourth defendant Nicole De Rossi were also acquitted.

The defendants denied all the charges.

According to the indictment, Todoric,as chairman of the board, and Huljev, as chief financial officer, abused their corporate positions in 2013 by allowing the payment of €1.25 million to a Swiss consulting firm for consulting services, aware that no such services had been or would be provided to Agrokor.

De Rossi, as the responsible person in the Swiss firm, was charged with helping Todoric and Huljev with issuing invoices for allegedly provided consulting services.

Canjuga, a member of Agrokor’s management board, was charged with inciting Todoric and De Rossi. The indictment alleged that Huljev and Canjuga were the actual owners of the Swiss firm.

Todoric has been under investigation since November 2017 for illegal siphoning of more than HRK 1 billion (€133.3m) from Agrokor. The State Attorney’s Office issued an indictment for this main part of the Agrokor case on September 15.