THE SILVER MOUNTAIN ROW Dan Fischer's ghost is haunting BCR

The insolvency companies involved in the bankruptcy of Silver Mountain are mutually accusing each other, leading to a true row around the actions committed by the Romanian Commercial Bank in the insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings of the real estate complex located in Braşov.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal has notified the DIICOT asking it to investigate potential money laundering offenses committed by BCR, in the acquisition of immovable assets in Snagov and of a tourist complex in Poiana Braşov.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal has issued the following statement on Friday: "The court notifies the prosecution asking it to investigate the potential money laundering offenses committed by Banca Comercială Română SA, consisting of the acquisition of the active immovable assets located in the Tâncăbeşti village, Snagov commune, county of Ilfov made up of 15 adjacent plots of land with a total surface of 59,679 sqm, according to the public auction minutes no. 1870/23.05.2014 and, respectively of the Silver Mountain complex, located in Poiana Braşov, county of Braşov, made up of 171 apartments, 176 parking pots, 2 commercial spaces, a multifunctional building - Restaurant, Club, Spa & Fitness, access ways, green areas and surplus land of 206,500 mp and movable goods that serve the asset in question. A copy of this notification, as well as of the court case will also be submitted to the competent prosecutors' office, and respectively to the prosecutor of the High Court of Cassation and Justice - DIICOT".

The court gave this ruling following a complaint filed by the debt collection company that took over the receivable claimed by the enforcement agent (Insolvency Recovery Solutions SRL) against a decision not to prosecute, rendered by the prosecutors of the National Anti-Corruption Department, in a case concerning corruption suspicions in relation to Remus Borza and his insolvency proceedings firm, Euro Insol SPRL - the liquidator of INR Management Real Estate, the company that developed the Silver Mountain project.

No criminal charges have been brought against Banca Comercială Română to date in any court case, BCR representatives announced yesterday.

They have mentioned, in a press release: "The mentioning of the «money laundering» reflects a complaint made in bad faith by a whistleblower involved in the case (Insolvency Recovery Solutions SRL), which has unduly collected from BCR approximately 1 million Euros, as the owner of a receivable which represented its fee as a court enforcement agent.

BCR has been involved in litigation with the whistleblower, and the bank was granted a final ruling in its favor, with the plaintiff being required to return to the bank the unduly collected amount, as shown above. BCR has asked for the insolvency of the whistleblower, to recoup the amount, and the former has avoided its repayment obligations, by changing the location of its offices, and lodging another insolvency proceeding with another court in the country.

BCR is involved in a perfectly legal process to recoup and sell the real estate collateral (buildings, plots of land etc.) pertaining to a non-performing loan granted for the development of the tourism project Silver Mountain of Poiana Braşov.

The actions that the complaint has been filed against (adjudication of the assets mortgaged in favor of the bank on account of the receivables that the bank had against the creditor) have been fully conducted in compliance with the law, as part of the insolvency proceedings and in order to recoup the non-performing loan booked by BCR.

All the counterclaims filed by the whistleblower against the actions carried out by BCR as part of the insolvency proceedings have been subjected to judicial control, and definitive rulings against them have been rendered. We regret that the situation has been inaccurately reflected, which is the result of the fact that BCR has not been a party in the lawsuit solved by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, to formulate any defenses in the case.

We ask for responsible behavior in the interpretation of incomplete details and unclear wordings".

Silver Mountain - put up for sale for 35 million Euros

BCR has granted a loan of over 80 million Euros to businessman Dan Fischer to allow him to build Silver Mountain and another project in Snagov. After the businessman died, and the project entered insolvency, BCR bought back the complex which had been put up for sale by Euro Insol, the liquidator of the real estate developer INR Managament Real Estate, at a price of 45.5 million Euros.

The bank's exposure to the project is 40 million Euros. The bankruptcy had been requested in the beginning of 2014 by BCR itself, the main lender of the project, which had debts of over 85 million Euros.

BCR, part of Erste Group, has appointed Knight Frank România to sell the Silver Mountain complex of Poiana Braşov. According to market sources, the price asked by BCR is 35 million Euros, plus VAT.

Silver Mountain of Poiana Braşov, the biggest leisure project in Eastern Europe, is developed on a surface of 23.6 hectares and comprises four apartment buildings (171 units, from studios to penthouses), 2,600 sqm usable surface of retail areas, which include a multifunctional building, consisting of a restaurant (with a capacity of 140 people), a club and a spa & fitness center, with underground parking lots. Dan Fischer died in 2012.

"Poiana Braşov is one of the few mountain resorts where demand from tourists is high, and supply is relatively limited. Mixed projects such as Silver Mountain are almost inexistent on the market, given the rising investment activity, and we expect the sale to generate a lot of interest from investors. Over the last two years, the volume of investments in Romanian real estate has exceeded 1.4 billion Euros, based on strong economic growth, of more than 3%, and we expect it to increase at the same rate in the coming years", the representatives of the real estate consultants say, who are now trying to find a buyer for the property of Poiana Braşov.

Remus Borza, the head of Euro Insol, was saying that BCR intended to continue developing the Poiana Braşov project.

The project was started in 2008

INR Management Real Estate, which was controlled by a Cyprus offshore which had behind it, businessman Dan Fischer, prince Albert of Monaco and Ion Ţiriac, began in 2008 the construction of the most luxury real estate project in Romania, estimated at over 300 million Euros.

The developer intended to build a mini-resort, which would feature apartments and villas, a 184-room hotel affiliated with the Raddison SAS chain, two cinemas, a heliport, a tennis club and an 18-hole golf course set up on a plot of land of 440,000 square meters. The 15 villas with 600 apartments of the complex were going to be built on a surface of 88 hectares. The economic crisis prevented the completion of the project. At the end of May 2013, Fischer's sister sold INR Management to Asian investment fund UNI-ASIA Holding.

According to a report by the receiver, the main causes of the insolvency of INR Management which it has uncovered were the exceeding of the execution deadlines, very high consulting services costs, artificially inflated through the large number of identical or similar consulting contracts and which overlap in time, the consulting contracts concluded with affiliated persons and acquisitions of assets from affiliated persons at prices above the market.