Atlantska Plovidba Refutes Share Transfer Allegations

Croatian shipping company Atlantska Plovidba denied corruption allegations with respect to the company’s share transfers raised this week by the local media.

The allegations stem from a report by Croatia’s Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) referring to trading irregularities by an undisclosed company dating back from 2014 during the said company’s privatization process.

Media reports said that the company in question was in fact Atlantska Plovidba.

The bulker owner said that there were no share transfers to the company’s executives  in 2014, stressing that the latest significant transfer of shares to the company’s employees took place in 2004.

There were two rounds of share transfers to the company’s executives and seafarers in 2004, Atlantska said, adding that all transactions were conducted in accordance with the law. Some 166 people applied for the first round of the ESOP scheme, and 126 in the second, the company said.

As informed, in the past five years, the company did not pay dividend to its shareholders.

“Atlantska Plovidba has been building its reputation on the global maritime market since 1955 and has secured a place among the top bulk carriers of the world. Such unfounded attacks threaten to diminish that reputation which could result in hampered business operation of the company,” the company said in a statement.

As a result, the bulker operator said it would seek damage compensation via all available legal instruments against all parties who through unfounded claims mar the company’s reputation.

World Maritime News Staff; Image: Atlantska Plovdba