Alin Giurgiu, former general manager of the State Ownership Fund (SOF), together with another three former managers of this institution, were detained yesterday based on an ordinance, in order to be heard by the General Prosecutor’s Office about the privatisation of soft drinks maker CI-CO Bucharest.
The other three managers are: Dan Gozia, director of the privatisation Department, Cornel Mandrescu, manager of the budget-finances Department, and Mihai Dimonie, director of the restructuring Department.
The four are accused of having caused damages worth 31 billion lei to the company, when the 70% stake in CI-CO was sold to SIF Muntenia.
The Police moved for preventive arrest, but this decision rests with the prosecutors, depending on data provided by the investigation, according to the General Police Inspectorate.
Former SOF president Radu Sarbu confirmed that four of his former collaborators had been detained on Wednesday by the Police for 24 hours, deeming the action as an abuse.
“I know they were detained for yesterday (on Wednesday) but I have not found out if any arrest warrant has been issued, although there is a ruling of the Bucharest Court of Appeals which confirms the legal transfer of CI-CO shares from the State Ownership Fund to SIF Muntenia,” Radu Sarbu yesterday told Ziarul Financiar, adding that he did not feel threatened.
“I did not actually privatise anything, as policies were drafted in the Management Board. If I had not performed this de-centralisation and if I had signed, I might have been in Giurgiu’s place,” Sarbu specified.
He went on to explain that “the signature of a director general follows the signatures of his subordinates” and that the former SOF general manager did not “verify” CI-CO documents, but his advisors confirmed that they were legal.
Premier Adrian Nastase yesterday said that “it is necessary to see if everything was done in a law-abiding manner,” in the case of the four SOF managers detained by the Police, and if the state had been inflicted any damages. The head of Executive added that he had been informed on the Police action, but he wished not to make “many comments” regarding this affair.
The CI-CO SA Bucharest deal took up lots of money, several millions of dollars to be precise, and had several “stars” taking part in it: SOF (State Ownership Fund), SIF Muntenia, CI-CO minority shareholders, a controversial businessman, Sorin Beraru, the National Securities Commission (CNVM), some companies and Banca Populara Cooperativa de Credit Furnica (Furnica People’s Bank and Credit Cooperative).
In brief, SOF was accused of having sold 70% in CI-CO for five billion lei (that is less than $500,000) to SIF Muntenia in 1999, although the Bucharest-based company at the time had some $5 million in accounts and $20 million in real estate patrimony.
SOF representative to have signed the cession papers was Alin Giurgiu, the Fund’s executive manager. SOF’s stake was sold for a price equal to the face value of the shares. At the time, SOF defended the sale as being part of the share compensation programme with SIF Muntenia.