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MOL scandal: executives make billion-forint profits following Druzhba pipeline halt
An association representing small stock market investors has turned to the central bank over suspicions of insider trading, claiming that several executives at MOL Nyrt. secretly profited from selling oil shares, while failing to disclose that Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline had been halted.
Billion-forint share sales with profit
The four executives involved earned staggering amounts in just one week:
- Ákos Székely sold 29,852 shares at an average price of HUF 3,978, bringing in more than HUF 118 million.
- Péter Ratatics sold 52,795 shares at HUF 3,820 each, earning HUF 201 million.
- Anthony Radev sold 160,072 shares at HUF 4,013, realising nearly HUF 642 million.
- Zsigmond Járai sold 150,620 shares at over HUF 4,016 each, generating HUF 604 million in revenue.
These sales coincided with MOL shares reaching historic highs in January, peaking at HUF 4,128 on 4 February, levels unseen in the past five years.
Withheld details
Before MOL Nyrt.’s record share price, the Druzhba pipeline had been damaged, but the company did not publish the supply issue in the legally required venue and timeframe.
MOL, however, claims that all its stock exchange communications comply with current legislation and that no laws were broken, 24.hu wrote.
Investigations into MOL shares
Gábor Dióslaki, head of the TEBÉSZ association, also finds the timing of MOL’s share transactions suspicious and therefore approached the central bank to check whether any legal violations or insider trading occurred.
The chairman emphasised that the halt of supplies via the Druzhba pipeline should have been disclosed immediately, yet there were no signs of this on public channels.
As a result, the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) announced on Tuesday that it had launched an investigation into certain MOL share transactions to determine whether insider trading had taken place.
According to the MNB, the investigation is based on suspicion of breaches of stock exchange rules. The official procedure is still ongoing, and the central bank has not released further details.
How was the profit made?
By selling at the optimal time near the market peak, the executives may have made hundreds of millions of forints, while smaller investors remained unaware of the supply problem.
The timing of the sales, the historic peak in share prices, and the size of the share packages combined to make these transactions extremely profitable.
Possible consequences
If the central bank finds that MOL breached disclosure rules, the executives could face legal consequences, such as fines, financial penalties, or even temporary suspension from their leadership positions.
In more serious cases, if insider trading is proven, criminal liability could also arise for the executives.
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