Hungarian MOL-Croatian INA war: did MOL CEO Hernádi bribe Croatian PM with EUR 10M?
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It was a mistake to sell shares of INA, Croatia’s oil company, especially in light of the energy crisis, declared Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday in Zagreb, emphasising that his position on this matter has been clear for a long time.
They want to buy it back
“We conducted a thorough analysis and offered a fair price—one that was reasonable and in line with the assessments of leading experts in the energy sector at the time. However, the Hungarian side rejected this offer,” the Prime Minister stated firmly.
He added that Croatia is not in a position to pay five times the price. “If they want to sell at a fair price, we will buy,” Plenkovic declared.
Zagreb turned to international arbitration at the start of 2014, alleging that MOL obtained control over INA through corruption, that MOL failed to make promised investments in Croatian oil refineries under the shareholder agreement, and that the Hungarian investor violated Croatian commercial laws.
The courts ruled in favour of MOL
MOL has consistently denied these accusations. The Geneva arbitration panel dismissed all of Croatia’s claims regarding bribery and alleged breaches of the 2003 shareholder agreement.
Following the arbitration decision, on 24 December 2016, Plenkovic announced in an extraordinary press conference that the Croatian state intended to buy out MOL’s shares in INA.