THE THEFTS OF SHARES OF 1998-1999 STILL CAUSING RIPPLES A row between the biggest shareholder and the management of Bucur Obor (BUCU)

"Bucur Obor" (BUCU) is going through another row, this time between the management, through Gelu Manea, the president of the Board of Directors, and the largest shareholder Laurenţiu Postovaru, after the one caused by the theft of shares from its shareholders which occurred 16 years ago.

On Monday, the shareholders of BUCU went to the location where the General Shareholder Meeting had been summoned, by Laurenţiu Postovaru, even though the Board of Directors of the company had announced that the General Shareholder Meeting could not be held.

Amadeus Group and is owner, Laurenţiu Postovaru, with a stake of 49.9% of BUCU, have summoned the Ordinary General Shareholder Meeting to appoint the third member of the Board of Directors of the Company, after Aurelian Bondrea stepped down back in September 2013, and was replaced by a temporary administrator, Silviu Pandrea, former internal auditor of the company.

Following the request made by Laurenţiu Postovaru, the Board of Directors of Bucur Obor decided the revocation of the notice to attend the shareholder meeting, claiming that the meeting could not be held because the Registry of Shareholders of the Company was not accurate, as the Central Depository did not update its records to comply with the rulings rendered by the Court of Bucharest in 2011, concerning the losses suffered by some of the shareholders of the company 16 years ago, when their shares were stolen.

Furthermore, Gelu Manea, the president of "Bucur Obor", yesterday said that the people who attended the Meeting are likely to be criminally liable, claiming the General Shareholder Meeting was illegal.

By the time the newspaper went to print yesterday, Mr. Manea had not responded to the requests for comments addressed by BURSA.

Laurenţiu Postovaru told us: "The current Board of Directors does not want to hold the General Shareholder Meeting, and is behaving illegally and abusively". He says: "Gelu Manea wants to remain Chairman of the Board and General Manager of the company for 30 years".

Between 1998-1999, shareholders saw two series of thefts of shares from the shareholders of Bucur Obor, which resulted in prison sentences.

Through a Court Order of 2011, the Central Depository was required to re-register as shareholders, a number of 1344 individuals, who hold a total of 7.32% of the company's capital, with 735 shares each.

However, the ruling is almost impossible to implement, because in 16 years, a large number of stock trades were conducted in good faith.

The Board of Directors of Bucur Obor, which consists of Gelu Manea and members Gheorghe Pistol and Silviu Pandrea, says that summoning the Ordinary General Shareholder Meeting as requested by Amadeus Group and Laurenţiu Postovaru would violate both the law and the company's bylaws, until the Central Depository implements the ruling of the Court of Bucharest.

Still, at BUCU, general shareholder meetings have been held previously, in order to approve the financial statements and the revenue and expense budgets of every year. The last general shareholder meeting was held in April 2013.

Laurenţiu Postovaru says that Bucur Obor is being managed without a revenue and expense budget, without a legally held annual General Shareholder Meeting, because its CEO doesn't want the latter.

According to him, the Central Depository avoided complying the court ruling of 2011 because it made available to the company the list of shareholders whose shares were stolen between 1998 and 1999.

Mr. Postovaru told us: "The Depository has very clearly expressed its position. Technically, that ruling can never be implemented. Who would they get the shares from, who is required to compensate those who bought them all these years?"

The ruling of the Court of Bucharest did not mention the route of the shares between the time of their theft up to the time of the ruling, nor who should compensate the current owners for the shares after their shares were taken from them to be returned to those they were stolen from.

Mr. Postovaru added: "The shares in question have been traded over and over again. No one knows who has owned them, the Depository only has the records of three years ago, not those of 15 years ago".

The businessman also criticized the remuneration paid to Gelu Manea, the general manager of BUCU, which according to him, amounts to 19,000 Euros a month.

The investor also complains about the fact even though he is the shareholder with the largest stake in the company, he does not have access to the expense budget of Bucur Obor: "I am not allowed to see what my money is being spent on, what decisions are made in the company".

Laurenţiu Postovaru concludes: "The situation of Bucur Obor is deadlocked forever".

Yesterday, the company was still suspended from trading, for the Ordinary General Shareholder meeting which was to be held on Monday. The BSE suspended trading even though the company had announced that the General Shareholder Meeting would not be held.