The Slovak Economy Ministry said that it considers the Transpetrol general meeting convened by Ignac Ilčišin on April 29 to be invalid, according to the ministry's representative who attended, Peter Žiga, after a government session on the same day, reported the TASR newswire.
Žiga said that the ministry's lawyers proposed that he should be present at the meeting due to the current legal situation surrounding the company. He said that the ministry will proceed in line with legislation and that it expects the Supreme Court to declare the meeting invalid and that subsequent proceedings will be in accordance with this decision.
Economy Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek filed a criminal complaint with the Supreme Court against Ilčišin's claimed ownership of a 34-percent stake via the Prosecutor-General's Office last week, TASR wrote. Deputy Prosecutor-General Ladislav Tichý had said that the complaint itself should have led to the suspension of the meeting and that if it did take place this would be against the law.
Ilčišin acquired the shares as a result of a seizure order directed against the state by Slovak courts a few years ago, but Jahnátek said that the process was fraudulent. If Ilčišin really does own 34 percent of the Transpetrol shares, the state will still possess the remaining 66 percent, including a 49-percent stake bought recently from Yukos International. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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