The High Criminal Court has upheld the Zagreb County Court indictment panel's decision from March that the expert financial evaluation, on which the indictment for siphoning HRK 1.2 billion in the Big Agrokor case is based, is inadmissible evidence.

The High Criminal Court said on Monday it had dismissed the appeals lodged by the state attorney and two defendants against the Zagreb County Court’s decision on motions to exclude evidence, finding that the decision was “correct and based on the law.”

The KPMG Poland company, tasked in this case with making an expert evaluation, failed to act on the order of the state attorney because it did not draw up a complete report, only the part referring to the conclusion, the High Criminal Court said on on its website.

However, it added, that conclusion is based on data selected, analysed and translated by KPMG Croatia, which KPMG Poland tasked, with the state attorney’s knowledge, with drawing up that part of the report.

The KPMG Poland expert worked 412 hours on the report, while two KPMG Croatia managers and two assistant managers worked 4,632 hours, the court said.

KPMG Croatia did business with Agrokor between 31 December 2007 and 19 June 2019, even after the appointment of an emergency management in Agrokor, the court said, adding that “this complex, years-long and lucrative business relationship overlaps content-wise with the subject of the expert evaluation.”

The Zagreb County Court’s conclusion on KPMG Croatia’s decisive role in the making of KPMG Poland’s report is correct and the reason to exempt KPMG Poland and its expert, the High Criminal Court said, adding that due to that reason, the expert report cannot be used as evidence.

Defence counsel in the Agrokor case have been claiming for a long time that KPMG Poland financial expert Ismail Kamal’s report, which cost the state over €1 million, is illegal because it was done by Croatian experts, who are in a conflict of interest because they worked for Agrokor during the emergency management.

Former Agrokor owner Ivica Todoric and 14 others are charged with defrauding the former conglomerate of HRK 1.2 billion between 2006 and 2017. Prosecutors claim that Todorić gained HRK 923.6 million and the Dutch Agrokor Investment BV HRK 320 million.

The Zagreb County Court indictment panel has been discussing whether the Agrokor indictment is grounded since 2021.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)