The brokerage house Broker Cluj (BRK) received a 724,000 lei fine and the heads of the company, Petru Prunea and Adrian Ceuca, can no longer operate on the capital market for five and three years respectively, informed an ordinance published today by the market watchdog CNVM.
The
penalties are the result of a control carried out by CNVM commissaries,
which revealed several irregularities. Broker Cluj did not respect a
previous decision of the commission concerning the activity of the
company's branches being suspended temporarily.
Moreover,
Broker Cluj transferred money from its private account to the open
account where it kept clients' money, without the transfers showing in
the investors' account charts. It also failed to prove that the
discounts for its debtor clients were made from the company's funds and
not from the clients' funds.
The
commission decided to fine the company's president until March 26,
Petru Prunea, by 25,000 lei and to suspend him for five years from the
capital market.Adrian Ceuca, the deputy general manager, received a
10,000 lei fine and a three-year ban from the capital market.
Broker
Cluj also got a 723,679 lei fine, the equivalent of 0.5 percent of its
share capital and the Deva and Baia Mare branched were suspended.
CNVM
decided on yesterday to suspend from trading the stock of brokerage
Broker Cluj for two consecutive sessions starting today.
The
first irregularities, referring to a fraud, were discovered in January
at the Deva unit and led the market watchdog into suspending the unit
for a fortnight.
The
brokerage house later on filed an appeal, denouncing the “illegal” way
in which the commission communicated the suspension decision, but the
request was rejected.
Broker
Cluj shares are traded on the first tier of the Bucharest Stock
Exchange under the BRK symbol. The company's capitalization stands at
59.34 million lei, according to the 0.205 lei per share quota settled
during the April 9 session.
