Lawyer Ilie Rotaru said that a recent decision by the Chisinau Appeals Court confirms all the illegalities committed in the “Gemeni” case. According to him, tens of cases featuring the joint stock company were started and they were ultimately merged into one case.
In a news conference at IPN, lawyer Ilie Rotaru said that following privatization, those who controlled the company collected practically all the real revenues. As the other shareholders disagreed, legal action was taken and SA “Gemeni” was liquidated, the property being divided. In the trial, it was determined that about 60% of the shares didn’t have an owner as no one appeared in court to claim these.
“Since then, different curious, mainly illegal situations were witnessed around SA “Gemeni”. So, those who claimed that those 60% belonged to them used all the means to prove their rights but failed to and the company became the object of litigation,” stated Ilie Rotaru.
In September 2004, the Buiucani Court ruled that the complex “Gemeni” should be transferred under the management of the office of Ilie Rotaru. This ordinance wasn’t annulled but the case was suspended. “That ordinance shows that the complex SA “Gemeni” should be now managed by the office of lawyer Ilie Rotaru. In reality, there are other persons there,” noted the lawyer. He added he possesses documents showing that the then senior administration of the country became involved in civil and criminal cases.
The case was dropped by a court decision made in 2012 but this decision was quashed on May 30, 2022 following the efforts made by him and other shareholders who filed complaints. Recently, the legality of the decision was confirmed by the Chisinau Appeals Court and the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anticorruption Center will have to resume the investigation into this case.
The lawyer reminded that “Gemeni” was founded as a joint stock company in 1992. “In several years, the company was fully privatized and the controlling interest was held by investment funds that later appropriated the property of those who entrusted this to them. The managers of these investment funds also became formal or real owners of SA “Gemeni” despite the fact that they broke the law when they purchased the shares of those who entrusted their assets to them,” said Ilie Rotaru. According to him, the shareholder register of SA “Gemeni” contains over 490 shareholders but the assemblies held several years ago involved not more than 15 shareholders.
The conference forms part of the series of conferences held as part of IPN News Agency’s project “Support for the Justice Reform through multimedia coverage of cases of alleged injustice”. The Agency does not bear responsibility for the public statements made in the public sphere by the organizers of news conferences. IPN News Agency gives the right of reply to persons who consider they were touched by the news items produced based on statements of the organizers of the given news conference, including by facilitating the organization of another news conference in similar conditions.
