The oral proceedings due to the expropriation of shareholders and bondholders of Slovenian banks within the "Kotnik and others" case took place before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg on Tuesday. On the part of the PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD), which was first to initiate procedures for the constitutional assessment of the Banking Act (ZBan) two years ago, the interests of the expropriated holders were competently represented by the lawyers Mr. Miha Kunič, Ms. Tamara Kek and Mr. Jorg Sladič, as well as the prime mover of the Initiative within VZMD, Mr. Tadej Kotnik, and the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič.
The other party was represented by two foreign law firms, two state attorneys of the Republic of Slovenia and eight employees of the Bank of Slovenia. The Bank of Slovenia announced that the total costs of this representation will not exceed EUR 85,000!!! In this respect, VZMD seriously questions the role of the Bank of Slovenia as the procedure before the ECJ refers to the constitutionality of the Banking Act and not to the individual contentious cancellations and their economic justification. Namely, the key issue of the procedure is whether the European Commission's Banking Communication (as regards Slovenia) was the binding legal reference. VZMD believes that the mentioned Communication is not binding, which has also been validated by its author - the European Commission.
VZMD also stressed that the one of the opposing parties is also the State Attorney's Office of the Republic of Slovenia, which is to represent the Republic of Slovenia, and as such includes the Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia, the National Council and other courts, all of which are also initiators of the Banking Act constitutionality assessment.
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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
Slovenian Constitutional Court acknowledges the legal interest of 293 initiators united by VZMD who demanded a constitutional review of the Banking Act (Ljubljana, January 2013)
WORLD BANK – President of VZMD and EuroFinUse Board Member speaker of the first panel at the international conference about audit reform and the importance of audit committees (Bucharest, June 2013)
INDIA – visit of Slovenian government and business delegation – on the basis of Memorandum between ICPE and VZMD international investors' programs investo.si and investo.international also present (New Delhi, February 2013)
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT of “International Conference on Benefits and Challenges of Public Private Partnerships for improving Energy Efficiency” – key statements of prominent participants (Ljubljana, October, 2012)
VIDEO REPORT - International Conference at the Brussels Stock Exchange Stimulated Investors' Representatives and Institutions to Participate at the Investors' Week 2012 in September in Slovenia(Brussels, March 2012)
www.vzmd.si – More on the VZMD – PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association
www.vzmd.tv and www.investo.tv – Over 300 videos from VZMD.TV and investo.tv
www.investo.si – More on the investo.si – Invest to Slovenia Program
www.investo.international – More on the network of 55 national organizations of shareholders and investors
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).
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