Commercial Court judge Mislav Kolakusic said in a statement on Tuesday that he had decided to ask the Constitutional Court to assess whether the Financial Operations and Pre-Bankruptcy Settlement Act was constitutional because in his opinion the application of this law had led to violations of the Constitution and other laws of Croatia.
Judge Kolakusic on Monday suspended the ongoing pre-bankruptcy settlement proceedings for Dalekovod, the provider of services in power system, road, railway and telecommunications infrastructure, in order to ask the Constitutional Court to assess the constitutionality of the Financial Operations and Pre-Bankruptcy Settlement Act. His decision angered Finance Minister Slavko Linic.
The judge said that he had initially supported the idea of pre-bankruptcy proceedings but that in the course of his work he had realised that certain provisions of the Financial Operations and Pre-Bankruptcy Settlement Act and their application in given cases violated the Constitution and other laws to the detriment of creditors, the state budget and all citizens of Croatia, while at the same time some creditors were given more favourable terms for recovering their claims.
He said that the request for the assessment of constitutionality was nearing completion and would be submitted to the Constitutional Court soon.
