October 26 (SeeNews) - The High Court in London has denied permission to the founder of Croatian ailing concern Agrokor, Ivica Todoric, to appeal against a request for his extradition from the UK, Croatian media reported.
Todoric, his two sons, and 12 other business associates are under criminal investigation in Croatia for suspected wrongdoing at Agrokor that led the country's largest privately-held concern to the brink of collapse in 2017. A Zagreb county court has ordered that Todoric be put in pre-trial detention.
Following the decision of the High Court in London, the first-instance ruling by the Westminster Magistrates Court of April 23 ordering the extradition of the owner of Agrokor becomes final, Croatian public broadcaster HRT said on Thursday.
"This will not stop me [...]. In a period of one year, I gathered a lot of evidence and information and I will fight for the truth," Todoric said after the trial, according to a video file posted on the website of HRT.
The owner of Agrokor was detained in London in November 2017 on a European arrest warrant and was released on bail just hours after his detention. He was stripped of his passport and was required to wear an electronic tag and report to a police station three times a week.
Todoric's lawyers argued in April before the London court that the prosecution was politically motivated and that there was a close connection between the company and senior Croatian politicians.
In April last year, the Croatian government stepped in to prevent the collapse of indebted Agrokor by appointing a crisis manager under a special law governing the management of companies of systemic importance for the country's economy. Todoric was stripped of his managerial rights under the law popularly known as Lex Agrokor but remains owner of the concern.