STA, 10 June 2019 - After a two-year dispute on the sale of land for the planned Tobačna City development in Ljubljana, the Higher Court has ruled that the owner of a tiny part of the land will be able to buy the entire complex as the holder of the pre-emptive right.
The decision of the Ljubljana Higher Court to grant an appeal by Igor Pezdirc, who owns parts of two out of the total of 49 plots at the location of a former cigarette plant, was published on Monday by AJPES, the agency for public legal records.
The ruling follows the April decision of the Constitutional Court that Pezdirc may exercise his pre-emptive right, as violation of this right would represent an encroachment of the right to private property.
The complex just south-east of Tivoli Park is slated to be transformed into a housing and commercial development, but the project has been stalled due to a dispute in the sale of the land from the bankruptcy estate of a failed developer.
The huge development was sold by the administrator of the bankrupt builder Imos-G to the Austrian company EWO - Bauträger for EUR 25m in July 2018, but just before the transaction could be finalised, Pezdirc stepped forward to annul the deal.
The deal fell through as Pezdirc exercised the pre-emptive right and the administrator concluded a contract with him, which was later contested in court.
The court of first instance decided that Pezdirc cannot exercise the pre-emptive right on all remaining land plots of the complex, which was upheld by the Higher Court. Pezdirc then filed an appeal at the Constitutional Court.
The Constitutional Court ordered the Higher Court to take a new decision in the case, and the latter now allowed Imos-G to sign a contract with Pezdirc.
Along with the Austrian company and Pezdirc, also bidding for Tobačna City was the Ljubljana-based builder KPL, owned by the Bosnian company MG Mind, which had unsuccessfully initiated court proceedings against the original sale to EWO - Bauträger.
In the new decision, the Higher Court rejected the arguments by EWO - Bauträger and KPL, including that Pezdirc does not have enough money to buy the complex and that he only stands for another buyer.
His lawyer Marko Zaman has rejected the suspicion that Pezdirc does not have enough money by noting that he had already paid a deposit.
As for media speculations that Montenegrin businessman Alen Sijarić stands behind him, Zaman said that the pre-emptive right was not transferable, while Pezdirc was not prohibited from selling the land later on.
