Miroslav Kutle

Miroslav Kutle (born October 6, 1957) is a Bosnian Croat entrepreneur. He became notorious for his involvement in the Croatian privatization controversy and was since sentenced to jail time for embezzlement on two occasions.

Kutle was born in Lištica, (today Široki Brijeg) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He attended school and the University of Zagreb, where he graduated at the Faculty of Law in 1982.

In 1989 he founded UTP Globus, and in 1992 Globus Holdings, later to become Globus Group d.o.o. (Globus Grupa). In 1992, he was voted Manager of the Year (Small Businesses) by CROMA, The Croatian Managers Association

During the 1990s, Kutle's business empire expanded to include the companies Jadrantekstil, Slobodna Dalmacija, Radio Dalmacija, TV Marjan, Kastelanska Rivijera, Dalma and Splitska banka.

The rapid expansion of Kutle's business empire took place during the years following the independence of the new Republic of Croatia. Previously State-owned and run businesses were privatized, in what has become a controversial process. The relationship between Kutle, the then President Franjo Tudjman, the ruling HDZ party and the non-transparency of the transactions has come under scrutiny in the Croatian courts a number of times since 2000.

In 1999, the Croatian Privatization Fund (Croatian: Hrvatski fond za privatizaciju, a government agency formed for the purpose of privatizing state-owned businesses) confiscated the companies Diona, Jadrantekstil and Koteks, while Tisak and Slobodna Dalmacija were removed by court decisions.

...
Wikipedia