The European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance) has addressed an open letter to the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the EU Commission noting the issue of complete expropriation cancellation of subordinated bonds from six Slovenian banks.

The letter follows an extensive discussion held by the Better Finance's General Meeting in November in Paris when a member of the VZMD Expert Council, Mr. Tadej Kotnik, and VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, presented the scandalous expropriation of shareholders and bondholders of Slovenian banks, "Bail-in: How far does it have to go?" (presentation).

In its letter, Better Finance President, Mr. Jean Berthon, underlined the fact that some of the canceled bonds had been sold to individual investors over the bank counters as an alternative to deposits, while the brochure, which had been certified by the Securities Market Agency (ATVP), claimed that the risk of loss only existed if bankruptcy proceedings were initiated against a particular bank. Bonds were traded publicly also at the Ljubljana Stock Exchange and trading was in no way limited only to "well-informed" investors.

This intolerable situation in Slovenia has been going on for over two years, and Better Finance pointed out that during this time several bank "bail-ins" happened in the EU, but these proceedings were also completed - either by an investor settlement or settlement negotiations are already underway.

Since the Republic of Slovenia has not begun any such activities yet, Better Finance pointed out with deep concern that persisting on this kind of attitude toward expropriated investors and savers will have adverse consequences on the Slovenian investment atmosphere and the perception of the business and economic environment in the Republic of Slovenia.

Due to the above, Better Finance urged the European Commission and the Government of Republic of Slovenia in particular, to immediately examine the possibilities to resolve this untenable situation and begin settlement proceedings as soon as possible.

Better Finance's letter was sent last week to European Commission President, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, Mr. Jyrki Katainen, Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, Mr. Jonathan Hill, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Miro Cerar, and the Finance Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Dušan Mramor. A courtesy copy was also sent to VZMD President, Mr. Kristan Verbič, who is also a member of Better Finance's Executive Board.

 

The European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users of which VZMD has been a full member since its foundation, is an European non-governmental organization bringing together over 50 national and international associations representing the interests of shareholders, individual investors, and other financial services users.

Other Related International Activities:

 

BANKIA – a success of Spanish minority shareholders encourages also the expropriated share and bond owners in Slovenia – invitation to obtain compensation

PARIS – the highest representatives of European investors' associations were very interested in hearing the in-depth presentation by Mr. Kotnik and Mr. Verbič regarding the 'bail-in' procedures in the EU, and were extremely surprised by the unique and radical, downright disastrous violations and expropriations in the Republic of Slovenia

PARIS – in the General meeting of the European Federation of Investors, Mr. Kotnik and Mr. Verbič acquainted prominent international participants with the scandalous expropriation of shareholders and bondholders of Slovenian banks, activities and endeavors of the VZMD - PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association

LUXEMBOURG – on Tuesday it was the first time for Slovenia to stand before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice due to the expropriation of shareholders and bondholders of Slovenian banks

Slovenian EUR 264 million to pay off investors in shares and bonds of Greek banks as well – Slovenian authorities continue to thumb their nose at expropriated investors in Slovenian banks and their own taxpayers - BUT FOR HOW LONG!?!

EU COURT - prior to the pending public hearing in Luxembourg, new shocking facts have come out in regard to the background of the (dual) plunder of holders of shares and bonds of Slovenian banks and at the same time the plunder of all Slovenian taxpayers which rampantly keeps going on!

Slovenian EUR 264 million to pay off investors in shares and bonds of Greek banks as well – Slovenian authorities continue to thumb their nose at expropriated investors in Slovenian banks and their own taxpayers - BUT FOR HOW LONG!?!

EU COURT in Luxembourg should hold oral proceedings in the process of preparing responses for the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia - the motion of expropriated holders of subordinated bonds and shares of Slovenian Banks represented by VZMD put forward

BRUSSELS – European Federation of Investors (BETTER FINANCE) presented the only(!) objective Report on the real return of pension savings funds – the PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD) also actively espousing reforms of the pension savings and funds systems in the EU

EUROPEAN COMMISSION officially bolstered the position of VZMD stating that its »Banking Communication«is not a legally binding act - the Bank of Slovenia and Slovenian financial authorities insist on the exact opposite and in fighting against their own citizens they disgrace themselves by trying to apologize for scandalous measures and fallacies

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY unanimously responded to the VZMD's rationale and appeal - significant cost reduction for all minority shareholders and investors (approximately 400,000 citizens) with the new amendment to the amending act of the Book Entry Securities Act

THE COALITION'S AMENDMENT to a large extent follows the VZMD proposals to alleviate the catastrophic impact of the amending act of ZNVP-1, however yesterday VZMD sent a constructive opinion and another appeal to the National Assembly to make slight additional efforts in reaching an optimal solution

ANOTHER 260,000 EXPROPRIATED – VZMD has attempted to alleviate the abolishment of registry accounts by amending the Book Entry Securities Act through the COMPROMISE AMENDMENT AND APPEAL to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia

The District Court and the Higher Court officially acknowledge VZMD arguments concerning the unconstitutionality of expropriations, however the proceedings have been suspended until the final decision has been reached by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, which contacted the EU Court in Luxembourg - VZMD has provided written standpoints thereto after a world-class EU law expert joined the team

ATTENTION - unveiling evidence against the unlawfulness of Slovenian banks valuations and the overblown "bank gap" as a foundation for billion euro damage to the state and its citizens, based on unlawful actions by Bank of Slovenia and its Emergency measures decisions

Is the European Commission attempting to obstruct the investigation and protect the responsible persons?! The unprecedented provocation opens plethora of grave issues about processes, structure and perspectives of the EU -

»PLUNDER OF THE CENTURY«- VIDEO CONFRONTATION & disclosure of misleading statements of the Bank of Slovenia, the previous Slovenian government and other protagonists of the highly questionable 2013 bank restructuring, involving mass expropriation of citizens

EU PARLIAMENT & COUNCIL – VZMD contended with the progress & results of harmonization of the Proposed directive for encouraging long-term shareholder engagement, but warns of completely different practices as well as catastrophic repercussions of the Slovenian proposed amendment to the Book Entries Securities Act which is linked to the same Directive

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT - VZMD also lodged a proposal for the temporary decree for PROHIBITING THE SALE OF Nova KBM bank - to prevent direct damage to the Republic of Slovenia and its citizens

 

BANK OF SLOVENIA – »a year later«with a new secret resolution continues the destructive policy, on the basis of an already stipulated »calculation«of negative capital - the deletion of all subordinated bonds and stocks, also in Slovenia's sixth bank

STRESS TESTS – new and obvious proof of the extremely unequal adjudication of Slovenian banks – are they guilty in Brussels or Ljubljana, and what are their motives? The PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD) has called on the Bank of Slovenia (BA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) to explain, why only in Slovenia are we left to use »static«and extremely pessimistic assumptions, while in other countries and banks of the EU fresh data and »dynamic«valuations are used and even allow for

WARSAW - the evening award ceremony, the second day of the »Warsaw Capital Market Summit 2014«international conference and beginning of the conference organized by International Monetary Fund and National Bank of Poland with active participation of VZMD through investo.si and investo.international programs (Warsaw, October 2014)

BANK OF SLOVENIA / NLB - unprecedented deceit of renowned international financial companies and investors - VZMD informed them of concealed facts, in its endeavor of protecting investors, and called for inacting supervision, proper sanctions of those responsible, alleviation of consequences, and thus preservation of the remaining reputation of the Republic of Slovenia (Ljubljana, September 2014)

NEW YORK – VZMD President invited to be a guest-speaker at the Annual Conference of the International Financial Litigation Network (IFLN) yesterday – shortly after a successful business delegation in Iran, he also participated in a discussion in the world's financial centre with some distinguished international lawyers and representatives from key law offices regarding the scandalous expropriation of the owners of shares and bonds at Slovenian banks - an alarming case indicating problems in the (New York, May 2014)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION – a reminder to the EU Commission President J.M. Barroso about the unequal treatment of Slovenia, and about the endangered financial, economic and social stability accompanying scandalous expropriation of share and bond owners at Slovenian Banks – a letter of the Civil Society Initiative and NKBM Section at VZMD to the EU Commission President is soon to be presented in the European Parliament as well (Brussels, March 2014)

   

EXPROPRIATION – VZMD has filed three more lawsuits, this time against the banks, because the entry of subordinated bonds and shares termination in the register has been established as null – further use of all legal remedies to protect the expropriated owners, the signatories to the VZMD Agreement, and granting authority to the law office (Ljubljana, February 2013)

Slovenian Constitutional Court acknowledges the legal interest of 293 initiators united by VZMD who demanded a constitutional review of the Banking Act (Ljubljana, January 2013)

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT acknowledged the legal interest of 290 initiators, united by VZMD who demanded constitutional review of the Banking Act; the Court has given priority to the two VZMD initiatives but suspension of the Act was rejected, due to misleading statements by the Government and the Bank of Slovenia - shares and subordinated bonds of 100.000 owners had been erased in the three biggest Slovenian banks! (Ljubljana, December 2013)

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT about the week of the MOSCOW-VIENNA-CAPETOWN conferences involving the following: active participation of the international business-investment VZMD programmes, signing a memorandum with the Russian Federation of Investors, and protection of rights of the Slovene and European shareholders at the Viennese conference »The Financial Repression of Savers and Investors« (Moscow, Vienna, Cape Town, October 2013)

 

NKBM = BANKIA – mass protests take place in front of The Central Bank of Spain (CBS) because of national fraud against 350,000 shareholders who are represented by the law firm that is attending, along with VZMD (Pan−Slovenian Shareholders' Association), the international initiative at CBS. (Madrid, September 2013)

WORLD BANK – President of VZMD and EuroFinUse Board Member speaker of the first panel at the international conference about audit reform and the importance of audit committees (Bucharest, June 2013)

 

VIDEO REPORT – exclusively from the European Parliament: the EuroFinUse international conference and the Election Assembly, the announcement of the new President and Board of directors of this influential European association, into which a representative of Slovenia is also re-elected (Brussels, March 2013)

BRUSSELS – Slovenia with VZMD once more elected to the top of the European Federation of Financial Services Users – intensive international activities today continue with a conference in the European Parliament (Brussels, March 2013)

TOKYO – conclusion of the visit of Slovene economic and political delegation with Slovenian-Japanese Business & Investment Forum and the reception at Japanese investors' association – the active role of VZMD with its international investors' programs investo.si and investo.international(Tokyo, March 2013)

INDIA – visit of Slovenian government and business delegation – on the basis of Memorandum between ICPE and VZMD international investors' programs investo.si and investo.international also present (New Delhi, February 2013)

Memorandum of cooperation signed between the International Center for Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE) and VZMD, with additional expansion of activities within the framework of international investment programs investo.si and investo.international (Ljubljana, January, 2013)

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT of "International Conference on Benefits and Challenges of Public Private Partnerships for improving Energy Efficiency" – key statements of prominent participants (Ljubljana, October, 2012)

 

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT from EuropeanIssuers International Conference on »The future of European Equity Markets«at the Milan Stock Exchange – programs investo.si in investo.international also at the upcoming International Investors´ Conference in Wiesbaden (Milano, November 2012)

VIDEO REPORT - International Conference at the Brussels Stock Exchange Stimulated Investors' Representatives and Institutions to Participate at the Investors' Week 2012 in September in Slovenia(Brussels, March 2012)

 

www.vzmd.si – More on the VZMD – PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association

www.vzmd.tv and www.investo.tv – Over 300 videos from VZMD.TV and investo.tv

www.investo.si – More on the investo.si – Invest to Slovenia Program

www.invest-to.net – More on the network of 65 national organizations of shareholders and investors – invest-to.net

EU COURT - prior to the pending public hearing in Luxembourg, new shocking facts have come out in regard to the background of the (dual) plunder of holders of shares and bonds of Slovenian banks and at the same time the plunder of all Slovenian taxpayers which rampantly keeps going on!

Prior to the public hearing in the EU Court in Luxembourg, last week's show on TV Slovenija called Točka preloma (Break-even point) opened up the opportunity to present the positions of lawyers Mr. Miha Kunič and Ms. Tamara Kek (VIDEO), who through shareholders' and bondholders' agreements as part of VZMD, directly represent over 1,100 expropriated aggrieved parties. Apart from the two lawyers and as part of the expert team of VZMD, the public hearing which was held today in Luxembourg was also attended by the lawyer Mr. Jorg Sladič, a member of the VZMD Expert Council, Mr. Tadej Kotnik and the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič. The Bank of Slovenia announced that it will be represented at the hearing which takes only 10 minutes per party - by the Grilc Vouk Škof law firm and the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer law firm from London - and that the total costs of this representation will not exceed EUR 85,000!!!

These days bear witness yet to another facts and moments indicating that cancellation of subordinated bonds and shares of Slovenian banks actually was a plunder of the century. Last week's media publications regarding the conflict of interests of the Executive Director of the Bank Assets Management Company (BAMC), Mr. Janez Škrubej - who was previously the managing director of Deloitte Svetovanje, d.o.o.  - time and again corroborate the facts which have been pointed out by VZMD ever since the shocking expropriations occurred almost two years ago. The consultancy (!!) Deloitte namely did, for an  enormous amount (again as instructed by the Bank of Slovenia!) a calculation of an extremely negative capital of NLB which triggered the cancellations of holders of shares and bonds and transfers of receivables to DUTB, while its managing director simultaneously stood for the Executive Director of BAMC and was selected out of 250 candidates!

VZMD has since March 2015 pointed to the fact that the Bank of Slovenia performed a manipulation (VIDEO PRESS RELEASE) and commissioned assessments at Deloitte Svetovanje and Ernst & Young Svetovanje consultancies, which are neither auditing firms nor independent corporate and real estate valuers, which they should be pursuant to the Act Defining the Measures of the Republic of Slovenia to Strengthen Bank Stability (ZUKSB) – certified valuer shall be a natural person who has the expertise in valuing companies and real estate. Since the companies mentioned are not auditing firms they cannot be independent valuers as required by the Banking Act. An auditor must follow the International Accounting Standards (IAS), whereas a consultancy is not obliged to. Deloitte expressly stated in the assessment report that no IAS had been applied(Counterarguments to recent statements by the Bank of Slovenia along with additional disclosure of misleading statements, falsehoods and unlawfulness, March 12, 2015).

Other Related VZMD Activities:

Slovenian EUR 264 million to pay off investors in shares and bonds of Greek banks as well – Slovenian authorities continue to thumb their nose at expropriated investors in Slovenian banks and their own taxpayers - BUT FOR HOW LONG!?!

INVESTO.TV

 
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