ZAGREB, Nov 23 (Hina) - Savings account owners at the Ljubljanska +Banka, who had lost their savings due to the closure of the bank in +Croatia, established a savings and loan cooperative "Novac +stedisi" in Split on Sunday.+ The
cooperative could soon develop into a new Croatian bank, said +Bozidar Vukasovic, a representative, in his own words, of about +6,000 Ljubljanska Banka depositors with savings worth +approximately DM50 million.+ The newly-founded cooperative, based in Opatija, is open to all +former depositors of the Ljubljanska Banka who had lost their +savings, as well as their family members, Vukasovic said.+ He reminded of the fact that in 1991 the Ljubljanska Banka had +blocked the savings accounts of slightly fewer than 140,000 +Croatian depositors. After the depositors' decision to transfer +their rights, worth about DM600 million, to the Croatian +Government, which is now a part of
ZAGREB, Nov 23 (Hina) - Savings account owners at the Ljubljanska
Banka, who had lost their savings due to the closure of the bank in
Croatia, established a savings and loan cooperative "Novac
stedisi" in Split on Sunday.
The cooperative could soon develop into a new Croatian bank, said
Bozidar Vukasovic, a representative, in his own words, of about
6,000 Ljubljanska Banka depositors with savings worth
approximately DM50 million.
The newly-founded cooperative, based in Opatija, is open to all
former depositors of the Ljubljanska Banka who had lost their
savings, as well as their family members, Vukasovic said.
He reminded of the fact that in 1991 the Ljubljanska Banka had
blocked the savings accounts of slightly fewer than 140,000
Croatian depositors. After the depositors' decision to transfer
their rights, worth about DM600 million, to the Croatian
Government, which is now a part of Croatia's national debt, there is
still DM309 million left in private savings accounts which the
Ljubljanska Banka has to pay directly to the depositors, said
Vukasovic.
Although he did not specify how they intended to achieve their goal,
Vukasovic said that the depositors had suggested that they be given
a majority share in the Nova Ljubljanska Banka, since its debt to
them exceeded its assets. The other suggestion was to ensure the
repayment of debt from the next year's Slovene budget.
Vukasovic reminded that the Nova Ljubljanska Banka had been
established by an act of the Slovene parliament, and that it had
been given all assets of the former bank, while the Ljubljanska
Banka was left only with debts, i.e. DM600 million in transferred
savings and DM300 million in debts to private depositors in
Croatia.
Apart from this cooperative, there are several more associations of
depositors who had lost their savings at the Ljubljanska Banka.
Mile Vlahović, the president of one, said in today's interview for
Hina that he represented 5,237 depositors with savings at the
Ljubljanska Banka which had not been transferred. He pointed out
that his depositors' association had filed a suit against the bank
at the European Human Rights Court in Strassbourg, which should be
resolved in the following six months.
(hina) mm jfk/rml