Open letter for Nicu Marcu, President of ASF

Date: 01.09.2020

To: The Financial Oversight Authority (ASF)

Attn: Mr. Nicu Marcu, president

From: Florian Goldstein (MAKE), PDG Metaring SRL - BURSA newspaper

Subject: Combating market manipulation by the ASF

Mr. Nicu Marcu,

I hereby ask a number of questions and enquiries focused on the issue of market manipulation by the manager of SIF Banat Crişana; the responses of the ASF are awaited with interest by the readers of BURSA:

1. According to the quarterly report of SIF1, published on , August 31, 2020, on the website of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), "Through the address of August 19, 2020, the ASF has announced that the analysis conducted at the level of the specialized department of the Authority has not uncovered any suspicions concerning the existence of some market abuse factors as far as the trades which the Company complained about are concerned", referring to the fact that SIF1 has notified the Financial Oversight Authority (ASF) requesting the verification of the trades with SIF Imobiliare trades.

- Is the information communicated by SIF1 true?;

- if yes, since BURSA is completely unfamiliar with the subject:

♦ we ask you to send us the ASF address of August 19, 2020, which SIF 1 refers to;

♦ we would also wish to inquire about the elements which you have analyzed:

✓ ties between the people who have traded the shares, or ties with SIF1 and/or companies in its portfolio, with people and/or relatives thereof involved in the management of SIF1 and/or the companies in its portfolio;

✓ if there are any cases where the same person has made more than one trade in SIFI shares, being a buyer or seller several times, or if it has sold and bought shares in SIFI, when, how and what volume and value;

✓ if the transactions were cross-trades; if the trades have been conducted through the same brokerage firm or through several; if there are ties between these brokerage firms/their employees and SIF1/ companies in the portfolio of SIF1/their staff and/or relatives;

✓ to what degree have been analyzed the parties of the trades with 200 SIFI shares of January 07, 2014?; do they have anything to do with the parties of the trade with 200 SIFI shares of July 16, 2015?; what connections exist between these parties and SIF 1, SIF 4, SIFI or the companies in the portfolio of the two SIFs and/or SIFI or the management/insiders from these companies?

2. On August, in response to the inquiries by BURSA concerning the manipulation by SIF1, the ASF has informed BURSA that it has launched an investigation; does the address of August 19, 2020 which SIF1 refers to, represent the outcome of that investigation, is it a partial result of that investigation or is the analysis conducted by the ASF upon the request of SIF1 a distinct process compared to the investigation which BURSA was notified about?;

- The reporting by SIF1 of a NAV, in July, that was inflated by 1.5 million lei, out of a total of 3.99 billion lei, falls under the provisions of Law 24/2017:

"Market manipulation

Art. 120.

(1) Under the terms of the present title, market manipulation comprises the following types of activities:

[...]

c) dissemination through mass-media, including via the internet or any other means, which sends or may send false or misleading signals concerning the supply, demand or price of a financial security, [...] at an abnormal or artificial level, [...]".

Please clarify what is the objective of the investigations in this case, investigations which have already been going on for three weeks, which, as can be seen, were not necessary, because the manipulation is obvious.

3. Please clarify why do you allow the continuation of the manipulation;

- are you aware of the fact that, in order to evaluate the assets of the AIF (Alternative Investment Funds), is applicable the Delegated Regulation of 231/2013 which completes the EU Directive 2011/61/UE of the European Parliament and of the Council, which concerns exemptions, general operating terms, depositories, leverage, transparency and oversight, with direct applicability in member countries?;

- do you think that this Regulation is also mandatory for the ASF?;

- why was the approval of a new ASF regulation to be approved during the launch of the investigation on the trades involving SIFI stocks, if the European legal framework exists when it comes to evaluating the assets of an Alternative Investment Fund, with direct involvement in Romania?

4. Please clarify if you have started the investigation of the staff of the ASF, on claims of corruption;

- is it true that the head of the Investigation department, Cătălina Sava, former CNVM commissioner, is involved in a lawsuit against the ASF for unpaid wages together with Dorina Mihăilescu, who is also a former CNVM commissioner, and who currently serves on the board of SIF 4- a company controlled by SIF 1?;

- please clarify the amount of the claims of the former commissioners who have brought that lawsuit;

- do you think that Mrs. Cătălina Sava is in a conflict of interest or that she can be objective when analyzing the trades with SIFI, and can analyze transactions with shares of the companies in which Mrs. Mihăilescu is an affiliated person?;

- do you consider that the person who conducted this investigation is independent?

Yours sincerely,

Florian Goldstein (MAKE),

CEO and President Metaring SRL - the BURSA newspaper