The National Bureau of Investigation has filed criminal complaints against the Slovenian central bank’s governing board members, including former governor Boštjan Jazbec, who were involved in the 2013 bank bailout.
The NBI, a special branch of the police which deals with the most serious cases of white-collar crime, had already filed criminal complaints related to the bailout of NLB, the country’s largest bank, in 2018.
However, the investigators seized banking documentation from the Bank of Slovenia during the investigation, and the matter was brought before the EU Court, which ruled that the inviolability of archives of the European Central Bank (ECB) had been violated.
Investigators, therefore, had to restart the pre-trial proceedings and rely only on evidence seized from other state institutions. The charges imply they have collected enough evidence.
All members of the central bank’s board who imposed bailout measures at the end of 2013 have been charged again, according to a report by the news portal 24ur.com.
The investigation has focused on the discrepancies in the valuation of NLB’s assets, which differed by over €1 billion.
NLB had reported over €800 million in assets in its balance sheets, while the central bank, using its own methodology, determined a negative capital of €317 million, suggesting the need for insolvency proceedings.
This resulted in various measures being implemented by the bank and the government, resulting in a bail-in of shareholders and bondholders and nationalisation of the bank, which has since been floated on the stock market.
Suspicions arose that representatives of the Bank of Slovenia were responsible for directing and influencing the asset valuation methodology for Slovenian banks, which international audit firms carried out.
(Gregor Zamuda | sta.si)
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