Horia Ciorcila charged with Stock Exchange manipulation

Horia Ciorcila, chairman of Banca Transilvania (TLV) and one of the most influential businesspeople in the western part of Romania has been officially charged by the prosecutors of the Department for Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) for having manipulated the capital market and for having used insider information in transactions with TLV shares conducted on the Stock Exchange.

The case, which was publicly revealed yesterday morning, came out as a surprise, considering Ciorcila's position and the respect he enjoys in the business world, after having created a number of companies over the last twenty years.
Also charged were Claudiu Silaghi, former vice-chairman of Banca Transilvania's Board of Directors, his wife and his mother in law, two bankers of the local division of the Bank of Cyprus and two brokers from BT Securities and IFB Finest, who had allegedly brokered the transactions. DIICOT also seized some of their assets, worth about 13.5 million euros.
"I consider this to be a completely unfounded accusation, I did nothing illegal, nothing that would go against the legislation in this field and I will use all the legal means available to prove it. I am convinced the final results of this legal course of action will prove me right," said Horia Ciorcila who has been discretely running Banca Transilvania for 15 years.
DIICOT started its investigation after in December 2009 Bank of Cyprus announced it had taken over 9.7% in Banca Transilvania, although none of the significant shareholders of the bank, except Silaghi had reported selling any shares. The National Securities Commission (CNVM) helped with the investigation, providing data on the transactions conducted by the people targeted to the investigators. CNVM yesterday replied saying one might talk about insider trading in TLV's case but not about capital market manipulation.