The Ljubljana District Court claims that Zoran Vaskrsić had ignored five writings delivered to him. Among them were summons to both auctions staged in September and November 2010.
Vaskrsić reportedly only responded to the final writing on 23 November 2010 in which he was informed that the house had been sold. Vaskrsić claims he only learnt about the proceedings when he was informed about the sale. He immediately paid the EUR 124 debt to Vodovod-Kanalizacija municipal service provider, but the sale had already been completed. The president of the Ljubljana District Court Anton Panjan underlined in a statement for the press in February that the court had done everything right. He said that the creditor is the one defining the form of execution and Vodovod-Kanalizacija opted for execution on real estate.
After the failed first auction, the creditor requested attachment of earnings in October, but the auction process was not stopped. The case also triggered the Justice Ministry to launch a review of the enforcement act. The ministry pointed out that the current legislation allows the debtor to propose a settlement that is different from that proposed by the creditor in the process of execution. The ministry pointed out however that debtors were often very successful in hiding their assets and only paid the debt after they had faced the threat of execution on real estate.
This might also hold true in this case, as a report from the executor states that "multiple attempts to recover the debt (based on claims by several creditors), which took several years, were...unsuccessful". Panjan said at the end of February that over 60 executions on real estate over a debt that is lower than EUR 100 were under way at the Ljubljana District Court. The Corruption Prevention Commission is currently looking into the Vaskrsić case, while the human rights ombudsman issued a statement on Monday, saying that the execution was not in line with the principle of proportionality and that the debtor's existence should not be jeopardised in execution procedures.
SOURCE: The Slovenia Times
