The anti-corruption office USKOK has rejected the criminal complaints filed by the former owner of Agrokor, Ivica Todoric, and the former Member of the European Parliament, Ivan Vilibor Sincic, against the prosecutors involved in the Agrokor case.

A complaint by former prosecutor Mirela Aleric-Puklin against former State Attorney-General Zlata Hrvoj-Sipek was also dismissed.

After receiving a criminal complaint from Todoric against Sani Ljubicic, Danijela Paic, Ivan Glavic, Mirela Aleric-Puklin and Zlata Hrvoj-Sipek for abuse of office, abuse of authority and organised crime, followed by an identical complaint from Sincic, USKOK conducted an investigation, reviewed the file and analysed all relevant documents.

Todoric suspected that the contract with the experts was signed in coordination with members of the Borg Group

Since the investigation did not reveal any reasonable suspicion that the persons reported had committed the alleged crimes or other offences prosecuted ex officio, the complaints were dismissed, USKOK said.

In late 2022, Todoric filed a lawsuit accusing former Zagreb County Attorney Sani Ljubicic and her deputies of falsifying a forensic report by KPMG Poland, which was supposed to serve as crucial evidence against him.

According to media reports, Todoric accused Ljubicic of coordinating her deputies Mirela Aleric-Puklin and Ivan Glavic between March 2017 and April 2021, first as County Attorney and later as Deputy State Attorney-General, to fabricate an indictment against him.

Todoric also filed a complaint against the then State Attorney-General Zlata Hrvoj-Sipek for failing to act earlier on suspicions that Ljubicic had signed a contract with the experts from KPMG Poland, for which the State Attorney’s Office (DORH) paid HRK 8.9 million (€1.18 million).

In his complaint, Todoric expressed suspicion that the contract with the experts was signed in coordination with members of the Borg Group, a group he believes deliberately devised a plan to take over his company.

Prosecutor in Agrokor case accused of leaking investigation data

In January this year, the Zagreb County Court ordered DORH to revise the indictment against Todoric and his co-defendants in the “Big Agrokor” case within a year.

During this time, the DORH must appoint a new expert to conduct a new financial audit of Agrokor’s operations. The first audit found that Agrokor was defrauded of more than HRK 1 billion (EUR 133.3 million) during Todoric’s management. However, this audit was conducted by an expert who was found to have conflicts of interest.

On Monday, the USKOK announced that it had dismissed the complaint filed by former prosecutor Mirela Aleric-Puklin against former State Attorney-General Zlata Hrvoj-Sipek for abuse of office, abuse of authority and aiding and abetting a criminal offence.

“Since it was not proven that the actions of the accused person had the elements of the alleged criminal offences or other criminal offences prosecuted ex officio, the case was dismissed,” USKOK stated.

According to media reports, Aleric-Puklin’s complaint against Hrvoj-Sipek concerned the hiring of Ismet Kamal, who had prepared a financial report in the Agrokor case, which was later removed from the file as inadmissible evidence.

Aleric-Puklin, one of the prosecutors in the Agrokor case, was arrested in autumn 2021 on suspicion of leaking investigation data about Agrokor to former Agrokor manager Piruska Canjuga via her husband Goran Puklin.

In June 2023, USKOK filed an indictment against the Puklin couple and Piruska Canjuga, which has yet to be confirmed.