So far nobody had been detained, said Dimitrij Marušič, a spokesperson of the Koper Police Administration. Trgoavto boss Matjaž Cegnar and supervisory board member Leon Duraković are among the suspects, according to Cegnar's lawyer Dejan Babič.

The lawyer told the press that the police were collecting information about suspicion that creditors had been defrauded. Babič underlined that his client had done nothing wrong and that the investigation was launched after an anonymous report to the police in November.

The searches are being carried out police in Koper, Celje and Ljubljana, Marušič confirmed for the STA. Initially, the police said that investigations were under way at three companies, but later they said searches were performed at four firms.

Blaž Baldaš, the head of the Trgoavto in-house trade union, told the STA that he saw the police at the company's seat in Hrpelje (SW), but did not know the reason for the investigation.

KS90, the association that includes the Trgoavto in-house trade union, expressed in early February belief that the company was being milked by Igor Jerota, who owns Koroška trgovina, which in turn owns Trgoavto. Jerota is also the chief supervisor of Trgoavto.

The management of Trgoavto recently transferred all assets to Neolizing, another company owned by Jerota, according to the trade union. What is more, the employees had been instructed months ago to transfer all cash payments from clients directly to Neolizing, which also paid their salaries.

Since October, there had been delays in salary payments, and none of some 100 workers have received pay since December. The owner requested that they quit and offered to hire them through Maribor-based company Mega SM.

They were advised against the move by the trade union, which suspects that this was an attempt to trick the employees into giving up their right to severance.