LAWYER GHEORGHE PIPEREA:  The Authority for the Restitution of Properties, in the sights of the National Anticorruption Department

The National Authority for the Restitution of Properties (ANRP), the institution which manages the compensation process and issues conversion deeds at the Proprietatea Fund, is being targeted by the prosecutors of the National Anti-Corruption Department (DNA), which has had it in its sights for quite some time, says lawyer Gheorghe Piperea, in an interview for BURSA.

The lawyer"s statement comes as, in mid-April, the prosecutors of the National Anticorruption Department (DNA) have announced that they were investigating an individual in the case of influence peddling with the clerks of the National Authority for the Restitution of Properties (ANRP), after, in March, they caught in flagrante a citizen of Constanţa as he was receiving money from a lady to whom he promised he would help her receive her compensation in the Proprietatea Fund sooner. No further information about a potential action of the National Anticorruption Department that would target the ANRP is available so far.

Lawyer Piperea said: "I expect what"s happening at the ANRP will soon come out into the open Influence peddling means that someone is buying and someone is paying. There were some cases of people who, unhappy that it was taking too long for them to receive shares in the Proprietatea Fund after buying the compensation rights which were still under litigation, started going on TV claiming that they were asked for a 30% cut of the amount that they were supposed to receive as < compensation >.

I think that the trades concluded with cases or shares in the Proprietatea Fund, which took place before the listing of the Fund on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, couldn"t have happened without verified information, originating from the institutions which are involved in the compensation process. This is how it can be explained why certain dossiers, which had been waiting for a solution for years, were only solved after they were acquired by influential people".

The activity of the ANRP has been drawing a lot of attention over the last few weeks, after it announced that it would issue conversion deeds in the Proprietatea Fund for 1.5 billion shares, without clearly specifying when the conversion process would effectively resume and how long it could take. Two weeks ago, the Government issued a Decision which stipulates that the ANRP would prioritize the issuing of payment and/or conversion deeds, when "a distortion of the market for trading the Proprietatea Fund would occur, by causing their price to drop, distortion which would endanger the compensation process".

Lawyer Piperea considers that the Government Decision gives the ANRP the ability to indirectly influence the price of the shares of the Proprietatea Fund on the Stock Exchange, even though it has been constantly criticized for the way it has been performing its duties since its creation.

Mr. Piperea said: "The Government Decision seems to be an excuse for some of the irregularities committed by the ANRP. I simply do not understand why this Government Decision was issued at a time like this. Since we are talking about market distortion, why wasn"t a Government Decision passed when the trades with shares in the Proprietatea Fund were taking place at a price a few times lower than the face value of the stock?

I think that ever since its creation, the ANRP has been a piggy bank, but not just for the PDL or the PSD ... it was used by all the political parties. Besides, I don"t see the point of this Authority, as long as the homes and the plots of land that are being claimed by their former owners are in fact the property of the Mayoralties, and the registration of the transfer of the shares from the state to the plaintiffs is performed by the Central Depository. I for one would disband this institution tomorrow".

Shares of the Proprietatea Fund yesterday rose 1.96%, to 0.4945 lei/share, after reaching the lowest level since the listing on Wednesday (0.48 lei/share). The evolution of the price of shares in the Proprietatea Fund over the last few days has caused increased discontent among the shareholders of the Fund, which saw their portfolios depreciate by more than half, compared to the amount that they initially received as compensation.

Lawyer Gheorghe Piperea yesterday announced that he has brought a lawsuit, on behalf of a client, who is a shareholder of the Proprietatea Fund, requesting that the state pay his client the difference between the face value of 1 leu and the current price of the stock.

"The lawsuit alleges that the shareholder I represent did not benefit from a fair reparation of the prejudice incurred and that he is being discriminated when compared to the next batch of shareholders that will receive a number of shares calculated based on the average weighted price of the first /last 60 trading days", lawyer Piperea said.

Marius Murgu, the president of the Association of Private Shareholders of the Proprietatea Fund, also announced yesterday that the members of the Association are planning to sue the Ministry of Finance on grounds of discrimination when compared to the former asset owners who will receive a number of shares based on the average weighted price of the stock of the Proprietatea Fund over the last 60 trading days.