This follows from the press release from the state-owned NLB, whose supervisors met Saturday to debate possible measures following yesterday's police investigation into suspected insider trading in the shares of retailer Mercator that centred on Medja. NLB also said Medja had excluded himself from all decisions on Mercator and Agrokor.

It is suspected that Medja, then in his capacity of a member of the board of Unicredit banka Slovenija, had organised the purchase of Mercator stock after learning that Croatia's Agrokor would bid to take over Slovenia's leading retailer.

Police also searched the office of head of the Bank Association Arhar, who was Unicredit banka Slovenija CEO from 2003 to 2012, asking him how the Slovenian subsidiary of the Italian banking group Unicredit got hold of the Mercator shares.

Last evening Medja, who has been at the helm of NLB since October 2012, denied charges of insider trading, saying he had no intention of stepping down as he did not feel guilty.

Business daily Finance reported earlier today about a heated debate on the supervisory board: while deputy chief supervisor Gorazd Podbevšek, who called the session, proposed a debate on Medja's dismissal, Arhar, who was interviewed as a witness in the investigation, did not exclude himself from the decision process.