Prosecutor To Decide On Charging OMV CEO With Insider Trading
August 06 2009 - 7:58AM
Dow Jones News
Austria's Financial Market Authority has asked the public
prosecutor to determine whether OMV AG (OMV.VI) Chief Executive
Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer should be charged on suspicion of insider
trading, the FMA said Thursday.
The case relates to Ruttenstorfer's purchase of EUR620,444 of
OMV shares March 23, a week before the company announced it had
agreed to sell its 20.2% stake in Hungarian peer MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU)
for EUR1.4 billion - double the market price. The MOL stake deal
caused OMV shares to rise more than 3%.
The FMA has been investigating the case since April, before the
findings were handed to the proscutor's office Tuesday.
In an emailed statement, Austrian energy firm OMV said it
considers the suspicions against Ruttenstorfer unfounded, and that
he acted in a proper and fully transparent manner.
"The investment in OMV made by Mr. Ruttenstorfer was
communicated to the authorities and to the public via publication
on our Web site. There is no relation to the MOL purchase
agreement. It was done in a correct way," OMV said.
Public prosecutor spokesman Gerald Jarosch said the FMA has been
asked to further investigate some details, and once the new
findings have been evaluated it will be decided whether charges
will be raised against Ruttenstorfer. Insider trading can be
punished in Austria with a maximum sentence of three years in
jail.
Web sites: www.omv.com; www.fma.gv.at
-By Flemming E. Hansen, Dow Jones Newswires; +43 1 513 69 22 10;
flemming.hansen@dowjones.com