Was it manipulation or not?

The prosecutors of DIICOT (Department for Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism) Cluj announced on Monday that they had formally charged Horia Ciorcila, chairman of Banca Transilvania (TLV), and seven other people with capital market manipulation. CNVM (National Securities Commission), which assisted DIICOT in its investigation says it was not a case of manipulation but of insider trading. The charges brought against Ciorcila threw the capital market into disarray, but did not hurt the bank’s shares, which lost 3.5% over the last two days.
However, a comparison of the information in DIICOT’s release published on Monday and the accusations brought against the eight people reveals a number of inconsistencies. Lawyers specialising in capital market legislation say that the information in the release shows the accused had allegedly used insider information to conduct transactions, which is not capital market manipulation. The two types of market abuse are separately dealt with in the capital market law.