The Central State Office for the Management of the State-Owned Property issued the order on 2 January.
According to a press statement, the company should have settled the debt until 20 December 2005. The company asked the Croatian authorities to change the terms and conditions for the settlement of the debt, but the relevant authorities turned down its proposal.
The company managing board's chairman, Vlado Zec, a controversial businessman in the construction industry and currently a deputy prefect of Pozega County, has recently gone into the limelight after the scandal about the adoption of the county's budget hit Croatian press headlines.
Zec is believed to have ensured the adoption of the budget which the Opposition in Pozega County, 150 kilometres east of Zagreb, described as being tailored to the benefit of this controversial local tycoon. The session of 30 December 2005 at which the budget was adopted was marked by scandals and a scuffle in which a reporter was injured. The incident happened when security guards, deployed by the ruling coalition led by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) whose member is Zec, prevented opposition councillors and reporters from entering the building where the county assembly was voting on the 2006 budget