ZAGREB, May 8 (Hina) - The Croatian government decided Thursday to have US$56 million transferred to its account from accounts in American banks. The funds are Croatia's share of $226 million of the former Yugoslav federation's assets
deposited in U.S. banks which were recently unfrozen.
ZAGREB, May 8 (Hina) - The Croatian government decided Thursday to
have US$56 million transferred to its account from accounts in
American banks. The funds are Croatia's share of $226 million of the
former Yugoslav federation's assets deposited in U.S. banks which
were recently unfrozen. #L#
The government also decided to file a lawsuit against the LHB bank
from Frankfurt, mostly owned by Slovenia's Ljubljanska Bank, with
the purpose of establishing the whereabouts of missing assets of
the ex-Yugoslavia. #L#
The government decided to have the unfrozen funds transferred to
its account, but stressed that this did not mean it would ratify the
agreement on succession to the former Yugoslavia, said Deputy
Foreign Minister Ivan Simonovic.
Croatia is the only successor country which has not ratified the
agreement signed in Vienna on June 29, 2001, so the treaty has not
been put into force.
Simonovic recalled that the ratification process had come to a
standstill after it had been established that a part of the funds
envisaged for division among the successors were missing.
A total of $589 million are missing from accounts at eight mixed
banks abroad, whose founders were banks of the ex-Yugoslav
federation.
The government believes there should be no problems for Croatia to
receive the $56 million, despite the fact that it has not ratified
the agreement on succession. But it does not exclude the
possibility of problems arising because of the fact.
Government members say that the fact that America unfroze the funds
although the agreement has not been ratified by Croatia and is not
in effect, is a legal precedent.
The former Yugoslavia also had $165 worth of deposits in 14
countries, apart from the United States.
The government decided to press charges against the mixed LHB bank
in Frankfurt.
This is not the only bank, but the lawsuit against it could set a
precedent for taking the same course of action with other banks,
Simonovic said.
The LHB bank is the only which has not provided any information on
the whereabouts of funds from its accounts, said Zdravko Rogic,
Croatia's representative at the committee for the division of
financial assets and commitments of the former federation.
According to the agreement on succession, there should have been
$645million in eight mixed banks, but it turned out the accounts
hold only $56 million and 590 million were missing.
The agreement says that the LHB is holding $76 million, but only
$3,000 were found.
Rogic and Simonovic said that the problem was that data on funds in
mixed banks had been systematically covered up.
In line with the agreement, countries successors to the ex-
federation should have divided a total of $1.023 billion -- around
$70 million of monetary gold, $307 million of funds in commercial
banks and $645 million in mixed banks.
Serbia and Montenegro are to get 38% of the assets, Croatia 23
percent, Slovenia 16 percent, Bosnia 15.5 percent and Macedonia 7.5
percent, according to the agreement.
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