Vigo Krastiņš, the administrator of the insolvent “PNB banka”, will go to court with a claim of 32 million euros against the former board and council of the bank for the losses caused to the bank, the Latvian Television program “De facto” reported.
The administrator asked the nine former members of the board and council of PNB banka to jointly and severally recover the losses incurred by the credit institution shortly before its suspension with decisions that simultaneously relieved the former owner of the bank and chairman of the council Grigory Guseļņikovs of debt.
Among the defendants are both Guselnikov himself and his deputy, former Danish Prime Minister and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and a member of the council, former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, August Hanning. The other six defendants are Peter Michael Odintsov, a former member of the Supervisory Board of PNB Bank, and Oliver Ronald Bramwell, Anna Verbicka, Natalia Ignatiev, Dmitry Kalmikov and Alexei Kutyavin. The court has already decided to seize the property of Rasmussen and Hanning, the program reported.
The losses suffered by PNB banka are related to transactions between the bank and a group of investors led by Roger Tamraz, a US citizen, which Guselnikov presented as the new owners of the bank before the closure of the bank. As the European Central Bank (ECB) and later the insolvency administrator of PNB banka noted a year ago, the bank’s rescuers were not failing to pay their money for the bank’s shares, but were even able to borrow at PNB banka for their own spending.
“The issuance of loans to the same new so-called shareholders did not comply with the requirements of the law. Given that they are recognized as related parties, there had to be a unanimous decision by the board to grant the loan. There was no such decision, but the loan was nonetheless Of course, there is no payment for these loans, there is no collateral, “the bank administrator explained to the program.
However, this loan of EUR 559 861 to the new owners of PNB banka was negligible compared to the decisions of EUR 31,468,997 made by the bank’s management shortly before the closure of PNB banka. The program is known from several sources that the new shareholders of the bank have received shares from Guseļņikova without paying for them. Instead, the new owners have pledged to return loans previously granted by the bank to Guselnikov and his family members. The bank has released the pledge provided by Guselnikov, in addition to which he has transferred seven million euros intended for the hiring of lawyers to his account, but has not received anything in return from Tamraza and others.
“These new shareholders, when entering the bank and concluding transactions with the bank and the shareholder, have agreed that they will both secure and pay their payment obligation. At the moment, all these deadlines have passed and nothing has been paid, there is no security. Accordingly, we believe that the previous management of the bank is to blame for such actions, “said the administrator Krastiņš, who last year went to court against the new owners of the bank.
The “de facto” also reported that last year, shortly before the suspension of PNB banka’s activities, the State Police (VP) was informed about its transactions, but the Organized Crime Department did not consider it necessary to initiate criminal proceedings. The author of the application – the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) – has not appealed against the decision of the police not to initiate an investigation.
Gvido Romeiko, director of the FCMC’s Legal and Licensing Department, confirmed to the program that last year the authority applied to the police to “assess how these transactions with the entry of new shareholders have taken place”, but due to secrecy he refused to comment on the police inspection and explain why did not contest.
The LP explained to the program that the investigation had not been opened because no criminal offense had been identified during the inspection.
The banking regulator agrees that a civil claim against the former management of the bank against the administrator of PNB banka could be justified. “From our point of view, yes, such a claim seems justified. But we do not know the other party’s arguments. In civil cases, this adversarial principle takes place, both parties show their evidence, it is analyzed, and in the end the judge has a heavy duty to decide who is right. “commented Romeiko.
According to De Facto, in more than 30 million damages cases, the court agreed to seize the apartments and houses of several defendants, including property worth more than 700,000 euros in Denmark owned by former vice-chairman Rasmussen and a house owned by council member Haning in Germany. Both of them also have their shares seized. The former owner of the bank, Guselnikov, officially owns almost nothing, except for shares in a Cypriot company worth six euros. These assets would not be enough to recover the losses caused to the bank in case of a favorable judgment.
Neither Guselnikov nor Rasmussen nor Hanings responded to De facto ‘s request for comment on the proceedings.
As reported, the operation of “PNB banka” was suspended on August 15, 2019, but on September 12, the Vidzeme Suburb Court of the City of Riga declared “PNB banka” insolvent. PNB banka was suspended in order to prevent the bank from flowing out.
On 15 August 2019, the ECB, as the direct supervisor of PNB banka, decided to recognize PBN banka as a financial institution in financial difficulties, while the Single European Resolution Board decided not to liquidate PNB banka, which means not to measures to stabilize the bank. In view of the above, the FCMC decided to suspend the provision of financial services to “PNB banka” and decided on the unavailability of deposits. The ECB, as the direct supervisor of PNB Bank, took such a decision, finding that the bank had not complied with regulatory requirements and assessing the bank’s financial situation.
According to the bank’s annual report for 2019, Guselnikov, who previously directly and indirectly owned 95.97% of the bank’s shares, now owns 23.47% of PNB banka’s shares, while the other shareholders own a total of 76.53% of the shares, but each individually less than 10%. The bank ‘s shareholders include Tamraz, Antoine Baclini, Dolly Huri, George Mgalobishvili, Mark Zhanglui D’ Ombr, Michel Fayyad, Nikolai Paskalayev and Said Meraik.
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