Prosecutor's Office: investigate Mol share sales
The Budapest Chief Prosecutor's Office has ordered an investigation into the stock exchange transactions of three oil company executives, after police previously failed to initiate proceedings.
Prosecutor's Office: investigate Mol share sales
The Budapest Chief Prosecutor's Office ordered an investigation on 9 June into the share sales by three Mol executives – according to 444.hu.
The prosecution authority annulled the April decision by the Budapest Metropolitan Police Headquarters rejecting the report. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the police failed to explain how company executives could sell large quantities of shares following an event that could have influenced the share price.
The suspicion concerns three individuals: board members Anthony Radev and Zsigmond Járai, and Ákos Székely, deputy chief financial officer. The three executives realised more than 1.3 billion forints in total from the sale of their securities in the first months. The timing of the sales is suspicious: they fall between a Russian attack on the Friendship pipeline carried out in late January and the company's official announcement in mid-February that could have influenced the price.
The managers divested themselves of almost their entire portfolio within a single day. The company, however, only informed investors much later, on 16 February, of the suspension of Russian crude oil deliveries, although Ukraine had already reported this on 27 January.
A private individual initiated the proceedings following press reports. After a month-long investigation, the Budapest Metropolitan Police Headquarters decided it saw no criminal conduct and closed the case. The Prosecutor's Office has now revoked this decision and ordered further investigation.
The central bank already announced at the end of February that it was investigating the transactions.
Source: 444