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Šrot has been sentenced to five years and ten months after being found guilty of abuse of office in a chain transaction involving Istrabenz stock. Bavčar was found guilty of abuse of office and money laundering.

Two co-defendants, former Maksima Holding boss Nastja Sušinski and former Istrabenz consultant and Nastja's brother, Kristjan Sušinski, were also found guilty of money laundering. Nastja, who was also found guilty of abuse of office, got three years and nine months in prison, while Kristijan got three years and six months.

The verdict also says that all four defendants must pay a EUR 35,000 fine each. Bavčar was also ordered to return EUR 21m and Kristjan Sušinski EUR 3.5m in illegal gains. The freeze on their assets will remain in force until the money is returned.

Šrot and Bavčar, who were among the most powerful corporate bosses in Slovenia before their empires collapsed at the onset of the crisis, have been denying throughout all charges of wrongdoing in the chain sale of a 7.3% stake in Istrabenz in 2007.

But two of the co-defendants, including the owner of one of the companies involved in the chain of transactions, pleaded guilty to charges of forgery and complicity to commit forgery at the start of the trial in March.

The first case related to the failed management buyouts of brewer Pivovarna Laško holding Istrabenz, the trial focused on transactions in 2007, when Laško sold a 7.3% stake in conglomerate Istrabenz to its subsidiary Plinfin, for EUR 23m.

The stake then changed hands several times, before landing in the hands of Microtrust, which then sold it on the same day EUR 49.2m and bagging the difference of EUR 24.3m.

Bavčar said he had expected an acquittal. "I stick to this belief," he told the press after the verdict, to which he will appeal, according to his attorney Marko Bošnjak.

Bošnjak said that the defence did not hear any reasons why such a verdict was pronounced and why the court sided with the prosecution. He believes that the court should have acquitted Bavčar because there was no evidence of Pivovarna Laško being damaged.

Šrot was disappointed with the verdict, saying that the judge Vladislava Lunder had failed to explain why she had fully sided with the prosecution. He announced an appeal and reiterated that he had not done what he was being accused of.

District Prosecutor Jože Kozina, who had proposed eight-year sentences for both, is still not sure whether he will appeal to the verdict. He said he will first read the full verdict before making the decision.

The verdict also draw a comment from Interior Minister Gregor Virant, who assessed that the feeling that Slovenia is a law-government state was slowly returning, saying that the "institutions of the rule of law are obviously working". He also announced measures to further increase the efficiency of the judiciary.

The Manager Association said that the verdict was not surprising, with its director Sonja Šmuc noting that the primary role of a manager was to care for the company's benefit.

Šmuč added that Bavčar and Šrot were expelled from the association in 2011 after its ethics panel had found that some of thir acts ran contrary to the code of ethics.