The Romanian state could find itself again in the situation of paying several hundred million dollars from the tax payers' money because of public workers and state officials, guilty of incompetence or personal involvement in various fishy affairs. The latest such case is the FNI (National Investments Fund) scandal, which is only a small part of an entire list that also includes other scandals, such as Bancorex, Banca Agricola (BA - the Agricultural Bank) or the state guarantees.
The Bucharest Court yesterday decided that the contract signed by former CEC (Romanian Savings Bank) president Camenco Petrovici, which guaranteed FNI deposits, was legal. The decision was enthusiastically welcomed by the 300 FNI investors who were protesting in front of the tribunal hoping that the state would reimburse the money they had lost. Yesterday's decision is not final; it can still be attacked at the Court of Appeals. In case a final decision is formulated, CEC might have to pay the 300,000 investors the value of their FNI deposits, based on the contract signed between CEC and SOV Invest.
Deponents claim an amount of over 6,700 billion lei (300 million dollars), the sum initially invested being worth 4,400 billion lei. The number of claims registered until yesterday amounts to 219,118.
CEC announced that it would fight the decision at the Bucharest Court, after receiving explanations for the ruling.
By yesterday's decision, the Tribunal ruled in favour of SOV Invest and acknowledged the legal character of the document signed on behalf of CEC by Camenco Petrovici. The same court two weeks before had decided that the contract was illegally signed by Petrovici and ordered his penal investigation.
CEC legal advisor asked the Court to annul the agreement, claiming that it had to be signed by at least two persons, according to the Banking Act no. 58/1998 that amended the Law concerning CEC statute no. 888/1996, which allowed CEC chairman to represent this institution by himself.
Following only two hours of debates and after rejecting all the evidence submitted by lawyers, the judges ruled in favour of SOV Invest and representatives of the injured parties. SOV Invest lawyer Calin Zamfirescu, chairman of the Romanian Lawyers Union, claimed that the agreement was legally signed by Petrovici, according to the provisions of CEC statute, which allows the chairman of this institution to engage it in any commercial agreement in his own name. If CEC loses the lawsuit with FNI, the Romanian State will be compelled to find the necessary resources to reimburse all FNI investors, as it is CEC's guarantor.
Over the past five years, the state was forced several times to step in and pay damages after high officers and officials engaged the state in various deals. In Bancorex case, the state had to pay more than 1.5 billion dollars, in the case of Banca Agricola it disbursed over 800 million dollars, while collaterals granted and never recouped by the Finance Ministry exceed the amount of 500 million dollars. On the other hand, the National Bank also pays, directly and indirectly, almost 800 million dollars for bankruptcies in the banking sector, starting with Dacia Felix and ending with Banca Internationala a Religiillor (International Bank of Religions).
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