ZAGREB, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Minister of Justice welcomed the decision by the high court in London on Thursday to extradite Ivica Todoric back to Croatia where he is suspected of a white-collar crime.
Todoric, who is the founder of Agrokor, the largest private company in the Balkans with almost 60,000 employees, fled in October 2017 before Croatian police arrested former executives of his troubled company who are still under investigation over the debt crisis that hit Agrokor.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told reporters on Thursday that he didn't want to comment on Todoric's case, while Minister of Justice Drazen Bosnjakovic said that Todoric would have a fair trial in Croatia and that there was no political process against him.
Todoric was arrested in London in November 2017, on a European arrest warrant that was issued by Croatia. For almost a year he was fighting the extradition to Croatia. But after the court's decision, he could be back in the country in 10 days, N1 television reported.
"Of course, I'm disappointed, but all in all, I have to keep fighting. This will not stop me, I will go on with even more energy," Todoric told reporters in London after the court's verdict.
Later, in his written statement, Todoric said that the charges against him were political and financial motivated and that there were no evidence that he had taken money from Agrokor.
