The way out of the crisis of the commercial bank Snoras chosen by the Bank of Lithuania was the only right. And today, according to the chairman of the Bank of Lithuania Vitas Vasiliauskas, in a similar situation, they would have done exactly the same. Association of Snoras Bank creditors and depositors intends to offer their own bank restructuring scenario that would help the creditors and depositors to get invested funds back.
Would do the same
“I often ask myself what I would have done differently. Someone may be disappointed by my answer: “Nothing.” I would not do anything differently, there was no choice, actions and behaviour were dictated by the specific situation and the specific threat. In a similar situation, I would have done exactly the same. Solutions would be the same, the same, I would have suggested the same to the Board, said the same thing to the government”, - said V. Vasiliauskas, speaking to the MPs in the Saeima (the Lithuanian Government).
Currently, according to V. Vasiliauskas, the bank bankruptcy administration costs amount to LTL 17.5 million, they were covered by Snoras funds. He pointed out that such amount not exceeding 1% of the bankrupt or restructured bank’s property value is not fundamentally different from the amounts paid for similar services abroad.
“Sometimes the question is raised of whether the Bank of Lithuania could not manage Snoras Bank by itself? The answer is simple: it could not, because, in accordance with the Article 76 of the Law on Banks of Lithuania the provisional administrator should be independent, not an employee of the Bank of Lithuania”, - said V. Vasiliauskas. He also noted that Snoras case is international, so the administrator with international experience was needed.
V. Vasiliauskas said that possible upper limit of costs provided for Snoras bankruptcy for three months is LTL 60 million, the desirability and feasibility of these costs will be evaluated by the creditors of the bank.
According to him, at the moment, they are trying to find as many Snoras’s property as possible, restore it and protect it. So far, the bankruptcy administrator have found, identified and taken steps to protect Snoras bank’s property worth about LTL 2 billion.
The head of the Bank of Lithuania reminded that the situation in the banking sector has been curbed, the investors’ panic has been prevented. He noted that since last November 16 the deposits in the country’s bank increased by 9%, and indices reflecting the risk and the country's ability to borrow abroad remained at a stable level.
V. Vasiliauskas admitted that the fact that Snoras bank’s bankruptcy administrator is not always good at communicating with the public and explaining what is happening is a problem and promised to inform the administartor about this problem.
Sees populism only
The Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said that the politicization of the case of bankrupt bank Snoras will play into the hands of both major creditors and former shareholders of the bank.
In his interview to radio station Žiniu radijas, the Prime Minister regarded the parliamentary opposition’s endeavour to carry out a parliamentary investigation into the bankruptcy case as populism.
“Endeavour, as I see it, means the only - populist desire to get the space and opportunity to dabble in politics before the election - this is the opposition’s cup of tea, but I think that everything will be done rationally,” - he said.
According to Kubilius, a parliamentary investigation of the bank’s activities will play into the hands of its former owners. Former major shareholders of the bank - a Russian citizen Vladimir Antonov, who held a 68.1% stake in the bank, and a citizen of Lithuania Raimondas Baranauskas, who held 25.3% of the shares - were arrested at the end of November in London on the basis of the a European arrest warrant issued by the Lithuanian prosecutors.
The court has not yet decided on their extradition to Lithuania.
“There are two groups of people whose interests are connected with the solution of Snoras bank’s problem. One group is the former shareholders, former owners of the bank, which may have been engaged in criminal activity, and who are now hiding somewhere in London, and who will certainly benefit from politicization of the case, because they will be able to hide in London for a longer time cause a delay in the judicial investigations. One of the arguments that they will use in this case - that the Lithuanian Saeima is investigating something, politicizing the whole case and so on,”- said Kubilius.
According to him, the other group of people connected with the politicization of Snoras case is the major creditors who have not been returned their deposits, the amounts of which exceeded the insured value.
“Apparently, they would like one way or another direct the course of events so that the state or, in other words, the taxpayers would undertake the obligations on the loans not repaid to them or other obligations. Once again, they would benefit from the politicization of the case, its consideration in the populist light, perhaps so that Saeima would evaluate the measures taken by the Bank of Lithuania and the Government. In this case, the creditors may be able to claim indemnification for some alleged damage from the state”- said the Prime Minister.
Creditors have their own scenario
The association of Snoras Bank creditors and depositors intends to offer their own bank restructuring scenario that would help creditors and depositors to get the invested funds back. The Association argues that the actions of the bank’s bankrupcy administration team can be regarded only as a desire to provide a salary for services, rather than to protect the creditors’ interests.
The association intends to submit the prepared scenario to the Bank of Lithuania, the Government and the Saeima.
“On the one hand, we hear public assurances that the most important thain for the administrator is the creditors’ interests, on the other hand, professionally created infoglut is sperading, which dissolves the questions raised by the creditors themselves. For the administrator, it is important to make an impression, so these days we can hear about the property worth about LTL 2 billion found somewhere abroad, and the queue of potential buyers of the bankrupt bank’s subsidiaries. But as soon as we begin to delve into the details of this good news, the team working in the bank pretends not to understand what we want” - said the head of the association of the bank’s creditors and depositors Danas Arlauskas.
According to him, the experts are very skeptical of feverish attempts Snoras’s administrator Neil Cooper to sell the investment bank Finasta.
Leszek DLUGI (http://www.kurier.lt/snoras-страсти-накаляются/)
