According to the statement forwarded to Hina, Orco Property Group has been in a long-standing dispute with the Croatian government since, the group said, the Croatian Privatisation Fund failed to meet its commitments stemming from a shareholders' agreement in the Suncani Hvar hotel company.
Orco stated it had invested HRK 480 million in the Hvar-based company.
The Chief Executive Officer of Orco Property Group on Tuesday evening left the police offices in Heizelova Ulica Street in Zagreb after he was interviewed by the police.
Upon the departure from the police headquarters, Ott said that he believed that he had been interviewed as a witness about business operations in the Suncani Hvar hotel company since 2005. He expressed his readiness to continue cooperating with the Croatian police.
The police in the Croatian Adriatic city of Split on Tuesday afternoon pressed charges against six people on the suspicion that they embezzled HRK 16 million from the Suncani Hvar company, the Split-Dalmatia county police reported.
Upon the arrival of the Orco Property Group in the Croatian company, headquartered on the island of Hvar, in accordance with an agreement on public and private partnership with the Croatian privatisation fund, the suspects allegedly breached business regulations in the period from 2005 to 2008 and encumbered the hotel company's property with unnecessary costs in order to acquire unlawful gain for companies in the Orco Property Group, according to the police report.
The police suspect that those people perpetrated a number of white collar crimes.
The police investigation is going on.
Orco Group holds 55.5 percent of shares in the Suncani Hvar.
The news that the CEO of Orco Group was detained for police questioning in Zagreb, brought into the limelight questions and disputes about the privatisation of the hotel company on the southern Croatian island of Hvar, once cited as a successful example of public-private partnership.
In the meantime, Suncani Hvar's business results deteriorated, with constant disputes with the local authorities over ownership relations in some of the Suncani Hvar facilities.
On 13 July 2010, the HFP unilaterally decided not to renew the agreement with Orco Group for the next five years. Deciding to terminate the agreement, the Fund accused Orco Group of having increased Suncani Hvar's losses from HRK 105 million to HRK 580 million.