"The 2009 sale of gas trader Emfesz was illegal, the Budapest Appeals Court has ruled. CEO István Góczi was not authorised to sell the company without the owner’s approval, the court found. The former ownership should be restored by a process at the company registry court, according to the ruling.Mabofi, a Cyprus-based company owned by Ukrainian businessman Dmitry Firtash, will regain control of Emfesz, but the latter company no longer has gas sales contracts in Hungary.
After receiving permission from the energy authority MEH on April 29, 2009, Góczisold sold the company to Swiss based RosGaz for one dollar, using a written authorisation from 2004.
The Budapest Prosecutors Office dropped a case against Góczi in the summer, after finding he had stolen Emfesz but failing to establish a crime, as it is now worthless.
When the sale was made there were dollars worth some Ft 30 billion on Emfesz’s bank account, index.hu points out.
A pending criminal case in Austria will examine how nearly Ft 20 billion was transferred from Emfesz to a Virgin island-based offshore company, effectively controlled from a location near Innsbruck, over a number of years."
Source: Hungary Around the Clock
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09.11.2011