In a decision that could affect tens of thousands of investors in Spain, the Supreme Court has ruled that Spanish Bankia has to reimburse two plaintiffs who invested 9,997 € and 20,868 € respectively when the bank was floated. This will probably pave the way for other investors who lost money on their investments to pursue legal action, and Bankia has already put aside over 1.8 billion € for this contingency.
The Bankia case is reminiscent of the Slovenian NKBM case. In 2011 Bankia shares were offered to investors and due to the government's encouragement and assurances, the shares were mostly purchased by domestic inexperienced investors, who bought them with the pension saving purposes.
Thus Bankia got about 347.000 new investors, and share trading began on Madrid Stock Exchange. About a year later it turned out that the bank is in a very bad economic position, and the shares dipped sharply on the Stock Exchange. Similarly to NKBM case, the property of the Bankia shareholders almost completely diminished, after the state intervention.
PanSlovenian Investors` & Shareholders` Association (VZMD) is very carefully following this case and collaborate with organizations involved in shareholders protection. In 2013, during the mass protests in front of The Central Bank of Spain, VZMD President, Kristjan Verbič, MA, attended Founding General Meeting of the International Network of Law Firms International Financial Litigation Network (IFLN). One of the key protagonists in IFLN is the law firm Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo, which in the name of 347,000 deceived shareholders, brought a legal action against all those in charge, among them primarily The Central Bank of Spain.
Within European Federation of Investors` and Financial Services Users (Better Finance), VZMD is also collaborating with Spanish Association of Minority Shareholders (AEMEC), which invites all European investors who seek to file a claim and obtain compensation.
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT - VZMD also lodged a proposal for the temporary decree for PROHIBITING THE SALE OF Nova KBM bank - to prevent direct damage to the Republic of Slovenia and its citizens
STRESS TESTS – new and obvious proof of the extremely unequal adjudication of Slovenian banks – are they guilty in Brussels or Ljubljana, and what are their motives? The PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD) has called on the Bank of Slovenia (BA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) to explain, why only in Slovenia are we left to use »static« and extremely pessimistic assumptions, while in other countries and banks of the EU fresh data and »dynamic« valuations are used and even allow for
www.investo.si – More on the investo.si – Invest to Slovenia Program
www.invest-to.net – More on the network of 65 national organizations of shareholders and investors – investo.international
EU COURT - prior to the pending public hearing in Luxembourg, new shocking facts have come out in regard to the background of the (dual) plunder of holders of shares and bonds of Slovenian banks and at the same time the plunder of all Slovenian taxpayers which rampantly keeps going on!
Prior to the public hearing in the EU Court in Luxembourg, last week's show on TV Slovenija called Točka preloma (Break-even point) opened up the opportunity to present the positions of lawyers Mr. Miha Kunič and Ms. Tamara Kek (VIDEO), who through shareholders' and bondholders' agreements as part of VZMD, directly represent over 1,100 expropriated aggrieved parties. Apart from the two lawyers and as part of the expert team of VZMD, the public hearing which was held today in Luxembourg was also attended by the lawyer Mr. Jorg Sladič, a member of the VZMD Expert Council, Mr. Tadej Kotnik and the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič. The Bank of Slovenia announced that it will be represented at the hearing which takes only 10 minutes per party - by the Grilc Vouk Škof law firm and the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer law firm from London - and that the total costs of this representation will not exceed EUR 85,000!!!
These days bear witness yet to another facts and moments indicating that cancellation of subordinated bonds and shares of Slovenian banks actually was a plunder of the century. Last week's media publications regarding the conflict of interests of the Executive Director of the Bank Assets Management Company (BAMC), Mr. Janez Škrubej - who was previously the managing director of Deloitte Svetovanje, d.o.o. - time and again corroborate the facts which have been pointed out by VZMD ever since the shocking expropriations occurred almost two years ago. The consultancy (!!) Deloitte namely did, for an enormous amount (again as instructed by the Bank of Slovenia!) a calculation of an extremely negative capital of NLB which triggered the cancellations of holders of shares and bonds and transfers of receivables to DUTB, while its managing director simultaneously stood for the Executive Director of BAMC and was selected out of 250 candidates!
VZMD has since March 2015 pointed to the fact that the Bank of Slovenia performed a manipulation (VIDEO PRESS RELEASE) and commissioned assessments at Deloitte Svetovanje and Ernst & Young Svetovanje consultancies, which are neither auditing firms nor independent corporate and real estate valuers, which they should be pursuant to the Act Defining the Measures of the Republic of Slovenia to Strengthen Bank Stability (ZUKSB) – certified valuer shall be a natural person who has the expertise in valuing companies and real estate. Since the companies mentioned are not auditing firms they cannot be independent valuers as required by the Banking Act. An auditor must follow the International Accounting Standards (IAS), whereas a consultancy is not obliged to. Deloitte expressly stated in the assessment report that no IAS had been applied (Counterarguments to recent statements by the Bank of Slovenia along with additional disclosure of misleading statements, falsehoods and unlawfulness, March 12, 2015).
