Ljubljana, 05 April (STA) - Slovenian State Holding (SSH), the custodian of state assets, has filed a petition for receivership of the telecommunications operator T-2 in order to enforce what it claims is tens of millions in euros of debt.
According to the news portal Necenzurirano, at the core of the dispute between SSH and T-2 is EUR 120 million in loans that the company was granted by state-owned banks more than a decade ago for the construction of an optical network.
T-2 insists that a large part of this money was never transferred to its account, "disappearing instead to an unknown place", the portal reported at the end of March.
It noted that the company's balance sheet includes EUR 50 million in liabilities to the state, which it is disputing in the court, and that SSH meanwhile insists that the company must pay the entire alleged debt.
According to Necenzurirano, there have been attempts in recent months on an out-of-court dispute settlement, but no significant progress was made.
T-2 is reportedly ready to pay the state more than EUR 50 million, which is several tens of millions below what is expected by SSH, which has inherited the claims to T-2 from the defunct Bank Assets Management Company (BAMC), a bad bank.
While SSH does not comment on the "activities carried out with the aim of repaying claims", T-2 said on Friday that the petition for receivership was unfounded and unlawful, and mentioned the possibility of a damages claim.
The company added that the petition had been submitted without a legal basis and was based on untrue data, showing the "distinctive unprofessionalism and harmfulness of the actions of SSH" both to the company and the state.
T-2 noted that this comes despite a forensic investigation by the Ernst & Young accounting firm "proving that T-2 actually did not receive EUR 45 million in funds under the disputed loan contract."
The company added that it would refute the petition with legal arguments. "This petition has the same basis as the previous receivership petitions in 2014-2017, which the Constitutional Court has recognised as unlawful," it said.
T-2 added that the previous petitions had resulted in the company suffering EUR 54 million damage, which it is now claiming back in proceedings against the state.
