Rompetrol, the private oil group run by Dinu Patriciu, sent a formal dispute notification on Tuesday to the Romanian government through its legal firm Salans, company officials say. The notification is based on the stipulations of the Bilateral Investment Treaty signed between Romania and the Netherlands.
"This notification informs the Government of Romania of a violation of its fundamental rights and rights of protection which the company is entitled to," Rompetrol officials announced. "The Rompetrol Group has incurred economic losses and has a right to compensation. The notification will be followed by a 90-day period during which the government and Rompetrol Group will enter negotiations in an attempt to reach an amicable solution."
Dinu Patriciu, who is the chairman of Rompetrol, was accused together with other managers of the group of tax evasion, money laundering and fraud during the privatisation of the Petromidia refinery. Patriciu was detained for 24 hours at the end of May, a move strongly disputed by company officials, businessmen, US Embassy officials and a number of public figures at the time. The investigations into the Petromidia case are still underway.
Rompetrol managers said in late May that they later planned to sue the Romanian government for damages to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, due to the drop in market value of the company on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, the damage to the company''s image and the loss of business opportunities triggered by the prosecutors'' action.
At the start of 2005 one Rompetrol share traded for 930 ROL, but then proceeded to lose around a third of its value during the hearings into the refinery privatisation, Rompetrol representatives said.
The company''s market capitalisation had dropped by some 220 million dollars (more than 180 million euros) by the end of May.
"By presenting this formal dispute notification, we hope the Romanian government will reach an amicable solution with Rompetrol and thereby avoid arbitration procedures that could otherwise follow, in line with the arbitration rules of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) based in Washington," Rompetrol officials say. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro
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