The Supreme Court of Justice returned the shares in Moldova Agroindbank (MAIB) to the European investors, overturning the decision of the Causeni court whereby they were deprived of holdings. On the other hand, representatives of Merchant Outpost Company said they will appeal the September 14 decision of the court to the ECHR, Info-Prim Neo reports. Alexandru Turcan, the lawyer for the group of European investors, said after the hearing that the court’s decision showed justice exists in Moldova. “The stolen shares must return to their rightful owners. But there will also be another trial as Creative Production, Inc filed an application to the Economic Court of Appeals to recognize and enforce the Kiev arbitral award,” he stated. On the other hand, the lawyer for Merchant Outpost Company Oleg Verimeenko said he does not agree with the Supreme Court of Justice’s decision and will thus appeal it to the ECHR. According to him, the decision was taken under the influence of the statements made by Premier Vlad Filat, who described the transaction as fraudulent before the court passed judgment. “I want to see the motivation of the court for such a decision,” said the lawyer. The court decision is irrevocable. Earlier, Turcan Cazac Law Firm informed in a communiqué that the group of six investors from Slovenia and the Netherlands held combined 285,386 shares representing circa 28% of all shares issued by MAIB. Until Wednesday’s hearing of the Supreme Court of Justice, 240,506 of shares were registered under the name of Global Systems Corp. (Belize), and 44,880 shares are registered under the name of Merchant Outpost Company (Seychelles). Belize and Seychelles are offshore jurisdictions and under the Moldovan Law on Financial Institutions, companies registered in offshore jurisdictions are prohibited from owning in aggregate more than 5% of voting shares in a bank. In a bid to move these shares to a different company, parties are seeking for the shares held jointly by Global Systems Corp. (Belize) and Merchant Outpost Company (Seychelles) to be transferred to Creative Production, Inc. To achieve this, a new arbitral award was allegedly issued in Kiev, Ukraine, on August 16, 2011. On August 23, 2011 the arbitral award was submitted for recognition and enforcement to the Economic Court of Appeals. The date of hearing by the Economic Court of Appeals is not yet known, said the law firm that is the legal counsel to the European Investors. According to Prime Minister Vlad Filat, the raider attacks targeted tree more companies, besides MAIB, and an insurance company.