BUDAPEST--Hungarian oil and gas company MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU) said
Friday that one of its former employees, who is also a shareholder
in the company, has launched a private prosecution against the
firm's Chairman and Chief Executive Zsolt Hernadi over MOL share
price losing its value due to the Hungarian firm's allegedly
unlawful behavior in connection with its acquisition of management
rights in Croatian peer INA d.d.
MAIN FACTS:
- MOL said Mr. Hernadi has been named as a defendant in a
private prosecution in Hungary. The case is pursued by a private
individual and MOL shareholder against Mr. Hernadi in person.
- MOL is not a party to the lawsuit.
- The plaintiff claims that the loss of value in possessed MOL
shares was caused by alleged improper and unlawful behavior in
connection with MOL's acquisition of management rights over INA.
The case is handled by the Budapest County Court.
- The plaintiff, who is a former MOL employee, chose a special
type of procedure, the so-called private prosecution, after a claim
submitted to the Hungarian state prosecution was rejected. The
factual components of the private prosecution based on the
allegations available from the Croatian and Hungarian media seem to
be deemed inextricably linked to those of Croatia's present Arrest
Warrant request.
- Mr. Hernadi has demonstrated already in the past to MOL's
Board of Directors full satisfaction why assertions are unfounded
and the case is without merit.
- MOL acknowledges the fact that the resolution of the Hungarian
state prosecution to dismiss any request in this respect remains
unchanged.
- Furthermore, MOL considers this private prosecution handled by
the competent Budapest County Court as a fair and independent court
case and trusts that the court will review the facts thoughtfully
and in the most appropriate manner.
Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@wsj.com