Miroslav Kutle (born October 6, 1957) is a

Bosnian Croat The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats (), are native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitute the third most populous ethnic group, after Bosniaks and Serbs. They are also one of ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

. He became notorious for his involvement in the Croatian privatization controversy and has since been sentenced to jail time for embezzlement on two occasions.

Education

Kutle was born in Lištica, (today

Široki Brijeg Široki Brijeg () is a city and the regional capital of West Herzegovina Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. the town itself had a population of 6,149 and the municipality of 28,929. Name ...

) in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. He attended school and the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

, where he graduated at the Faculty of Law in 1982.

Business empire

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 (, where "Free" is an adjective) is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Split. History was first issued on 17 June 1943 by Tito's Partisans in an abandoned stone barn on Mosor, a mountain near Split, while the city was occupied by the I ...

, Radio Dalmacija, TV Marjan, Kastelanska Rivijera, Dalma, and Splitska banka.

Privatization and controversy

The rapid expansion of Kutle's business empire took place during the years following the independence of the new

Republic of Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Mont ...

. Previously State-owned and run businesses were

privatized Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

, in what has become a controversial process. The relationship between Kutle, the then President

Franjo Tudjman Franjo is a Croatian masculine given name. The name Franjo is of German origin and has a very long history. Franjo comes from the word "Frank", which means "brave and free man". The name Franjo was initially borne by men from the tribe of the Fran ...

, 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 Privatization in Croatia refers to political and economic reforms which include the privatization of state-owned assets in Croatia. Privatization started in the late 1980s under Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Marković and mostly took place in the 1 ...

(, a government agency formed for the purpose of privatizing state-owned businesses)Croatian Privatization Fund Official website (English)
confiscated the companies Diona, Jadrantekstil and Koteks, while Tisak and

were removed by court decisions. In 2000, following the death of Tudjman, a new coalition government took over and started investigating corruption in the previous administration. Miroslav Kutle was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for his role in the embezzlement of Tisak. In 2004, the conviction was reversed by the Zagreb County Court. In June 2009, Kutle was again jailed by the first-instance court in Zagreb for a period of three years, for his involvement in the mismanagement of another company that had just been privatized, "Gradski podrum", in 1992.

In popular culture

The 2018 Croatian documentary film ''The Boss: The Beginning'' ( Gazda: Početak), centers on Kutle and his role during privatisation in Croatia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kutle, Miroslav Croatian businesspeople 1957 births Living people Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb alumni People from Široki Brijeg Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina