The court recorded numerous leins in the land registry on properties of Optima Leasing in favor of the Crncevic family.
Ana Kralj, who was until recently president of the management board of Optima Leasing, was recently fired for misconduct by the company’s owners, Nove Ljubljanske Banke (The New Bank of Ljubljanska), confirmed sources close to the case. Another crucial moment for Optima Leasing is connected to a law suit brought by its former co-owners, the family of Goran Crncevic. In the last month, the court has recorded numerous liens in the land registry on properties of Optima Leasing in favor of the Crncevic family, which has been involved in a vast legal battle with NLB since the middle of last year.
PHOTO CAPTION: NLB’s financial losses in the region have increased to more than 1 billion Euro.
LIENS ON PROPERTY
Therefore, NLB cannot attempt a financial recovery of the company by selling the property of Optima Leasing, since the dispute has been legally recognized, and a liens on the properties have been recorded by the court.
This would apparently make it impossible to sell the property, and even make it difficult to find buyers who would be interested in purchasing any property thus burdened with legal difficulties.
The legal recognition of the suit puts the Crncevic family in a favorable negotiating position, until a potential settlement is reached with NLB.
In fact, the damage that was suffered by the Crncevic family, owners of a business concern Spectator Group, was caused by the illegal actions of the statutory auditor of Optima Leasing. These damages were valued by a court expert at an astounding 157 million Euro.
On the basis of their report, the Crncevic family brought a lawsuit which seeks compensation for damages caused by the illegal actions of the leadership of Optima Leasing. They have also brought a criminal charge against the (ir)responsible persons in the company.
As the Crncevic family has claimed since the very beginning of this conflict, the actions of Optima Leasing have had only one goal: to prevent the Crncevic family, as the minority owners, from revealing questionable investments in even more questionable firms and their owners.
The development of events which culminated in the firing of Ana Kralj, favors the prosecution against NLB, and can furthermore confirm that Goran Crncevic was completely correct in warning that Optima Leasing was not well run.
The poor management is revealed in the light of the lack of payment guarantees, which, relevant sources confirm, create the possibility of the collapse of the company in this time of economic crisis. How else could one interpret the behavior of the management of Optima Leasing when they signed a mortgage of 72 million Euro on a property on Borovje in Zagreb whose value was just 12 million Euro, a fact which has already been reported by the newspaper Poslovni Dnevnik.
The employees of NLB who were involved in this arrangement, have been ousted. Also removed from his position was Borut Simonic, president of the supervisory board of Optima Leasing, during the time when the strongest conflict with the Croatian co-owners, the Crncevic family, was taking place.
Simonic was also removed from his position as president of the management of NLB Leasing Ljubljana, when the entire management board was replaced. Numerous employees involved in NLB group also resigned.
Losses in the Region
Investigations into various leasing companies of NLB in the region show that similar illegalities were, it seems, standard procedure. A series of scandals have appeared in Bosnia and Hercegovina and Serbia, as well as a similar case now unfolding in Bulgaria. According to some estimates, the losses of NLB in the region amount to more than a billion Euro. This poses an immediate threat to the credit rating of Slovenia, and opens the question of whether NLB will survive, without political influence, to review the offer of Agrokor to purchase shares of Mercator.
source link: portal poslovni.hr.
Suzana Varošanec
Poslovni Dnevnik
18. siječnja 2012.
