Page 156 - Carte Falimentul BIR

The deputy governor Mihai Bogza, who, through his party colleague Sebastian
Vladescu (PNL), state secretary at the Ministry of Finance, urges companies with
state capital or with autonomous management, etc. – all being BIR customers -
"to withdraw their accounts and immediately leave BIR".

The series of "simple coincidences" continues: "BNR sources, which retain their
anonymity", launch various allegations in the press, some of them, being real
aberrations such as:

"BIR is laundering money for the Ochua drug cartel in Colombia", a cartel that
would have become a shareholder in the bank." "BIR, money launder for the
Russian mafia..."

There is also a release on the leadership of the BIR:

"The president of BIR, from the Jewish minority, came to Romania after 1989,
took a Romanian name and created the bank (BIR) for the Jewish-Egyptian
masonry."

At the request of the Committee for the Investigation of Abuses and Fight against
Corruption in the Chamber of Deputies, the Office for the Prevention and Control
of Money Laundering, responds through the address no. S3914 / 09.05.2002, the
following:

"Following the analyses carried out by the Office's experts to prevent and combat
money laundering, it was found that these suspicions were not confirmed. We
have no clue that this bank would have been laundering money."

Everything is definitely denied. But it is in vain and too late. It is well known that
the public opinion reads the first news, believes everything without reading the
denials. The bank's clients showed their mistrust, and they started to have
reservations to the bank and act accordingly.

The depositors' pressure begins on bank counters. The bank still faces the
demands, but the liquidity and minimum reserve of BIR starts to decrease.

It is natural to ask if the bankruptcy of BIR had been triggered out by the crisis
indicators, for which reason bankruptcy was not demanded in January 2000?

The answer is simple: the conditions laid down in GEO no. 186/1999, issued on
19.11.999 to facilitate the bankruptcy, the net asset of the BIR was not negative,
and the bank had liquidity and still made payments to the depositors.

It is more than clear: the purpose for establishing special surveillance was to
prepare the conditions for the opening of the BIR bankruptcy procedure.

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