Attempt to defraud Olainfarm shares has failed, Czech investors and Milana Beļeviča detained

For three years now, the struggle for control of the pharmaceutical giant Olainfarm has been going on. A Czech company claims to have become the company's largest shareholder. However, the police are investigating suspicions that the deal is in fact fraud and have detained at least three people in the case. The documents at the disposal of the TV3 program "Nekā personīga" show that Haralds Velmers and Kārlis Krastiņš, members of the Supervisory Council of Olainfarm, also planned to get the shares together with this Czech company.

Since 2019, the war of the heirs of Valērijs Maligins has been frozen. Olainfarm is controlled by Signe Baldere-Sildedze, the mother of the minor Anna Emīlija Maligina. Representatives of the other heirs Irina Maligina and Nika Saveļjeva are trying to change it through the courts, but so far - without success. They all want to sell their shares.

Each heir directly owns less than 8% of Olainfarm shares. Another 42% is owned by Olmafarm. Theoretically, it belongs to all three equal parts, in reality it was controlled by Milana Beļeviča, the board member elected by Baldere-Sildedze. According to the court's decision, Beļeviča could only be replaced if all three heirs agreed. Such a scenario seemed unbelievable a month ago.

SIGNE BALDERE-SILDEDZE, Member of the Board of JSC Olainfarm: "On April 18, there was a meeting between me, Milana Beļeviča, Kārlis Krastiņš and Haralds Velmers. During the meeting, I was offered an incomprehensible scheme, as a result of which the Czechs would gain control of Olainfarm."

Investment banker Kārlis Krastiņš and insolvency administrator Haralds Velmers are on the council of Olainfarm, where they joined as Baldere-Sildedze's trustees. They have offered a chain of transactions in which they would take over 42% of Olmafarm's shares without the consent of the other heirs.

Baldere-Sildedze claims that she did not accept the offer. Fearing the loss of valuable shares, she offered the other heirs to reach an agreement to replace Beļeviča. For the first time in three years, all three were on the same side.

PĒTERIS RUBENIS, Member of the Board of Olmafarm: "On April 26, the co-heirs agreed to appoint one joint representative, and this joint representative decided to change the board by removing Milana Beļeviča due to a loss of trust and appointing new board members, including me."

Already after the decision of the heirs, Beļeviča tried to transfer the shares of Olainfarm to an account at the Blue Orange bank. SEB banka did not fulfill this task and the shares remained where they were.

On April 30, two representatives of Czech investors came to Signe Baldere-Sildedze's watch shop. They stated that they were representatives of the owner of 42% of Olainfarm and gave a couple of hours to decide whether Baldere-Sildedze would stand with or against the new shareholder.

SIGNE BALDERE-SILDEDZE, Member of the Board of JSC Olainfarm: "These two Czech representatives pulled a copy of the agreement from a briefcase and said that they were controlling shareholders, that they were the new shareholders of Olmafarm. The conversation was quite short and cutting on my part. I asked them to leave."

The Czechs presented a document dated April 26, signed by Milana Beļeviča. The date is important because it was the last day Beļeviča was on the board of Olmafarm. As the other party, it was signed by Vojtěch Kačena, a representative of the Czech company Black Duck Invest. The heirs consider the contract to be fictitious. This is evidenced by a notarized contract dated April 27.

Tibor Bokor had come to the meeting along with Kačena. When they were getting on a plane to Munich a few hours later, the Czechs were detained by the police.

PĒTERIS RUBENIS, Member of the Board of Olmafarm: "We immediately turned to the police with an application to evaluate whether a crime had taken place. The police reacted very quickly and on the same April 30 these Czech representatives were already detained, of course, criminal proceedings had already been initiated and the first investigative steps had been taken."

Law enforcement officers also detained Milana Beļeviča. Criminal proceedings were instituted for possible large-scale fraud, forgery of documents and misuse of powers. Olainfarm shares were seized.

MILANA BEĻEVIČA, Former Member of the Board of Olmafarm: "I would not like to comment on this situation, as it is sensitive information. All my actions have been done within the scope of the law, I am absolutely convinced of the legitimacy of my actions, and I will make a public statement soon."

The Czechs insist that the deal is valid and demand shares in Olainfarm. The price promised for them was 40 million euros. However, the agreement includes a condition that the amount would be lower if the Czechs had to repurchase the other heirs' shares in the mandatory share repurchase.

VOJTĚCH KAČENA, representative of Black Duck Invest: "We confirm that the Czech company Black Duck Invest has negotiated the acquisition of Olainfarm shares from the largest shareholder of the company SIA Olmafarm. The share purchase has been negotiated and we will use any legal means to ensure that this fully legitimate transaction is carried out. We are ready to make a public offer to the other shareholders of Olainfarm in accordance with Latvian law, and we are outraged by the methods used by other entrepreneurs in Latvia who obviously want to buy the same shares. They came too late and their offer was not enough - we have already made a deal, and instead of respecting normal business practices and contractual obligations, we see this group of failed buyers trying to prevent a legitimate transfer from being executed with dubious methods. However, we are confident that the relevant Latvian authorities will ensure the rule of law and the protection of foreign investment."

According to the Czech Commercial Register, the real beneficiary of the company is Tomas Krsek. It was founded in March.

SIGNE BALDERE-SILDEDZE, Member of the Board of JSC Olainfarm: "These are the same people - Czechs, investors, only from another company - who a couple of years ago approached me with a proposal to buy Anna's inherited shares. But at that time I already had a preliminary agreement, Anna had a preliminary agreement with the support of the Orphan's Court. And I already had, we already had other obligations, but there was an attempt, discussions."

Kārlis Krastiņš, a member of the Supervisory Council of Olainfarm and the head of the investment company Prudentia, introduced Krsek and his managers to Baldere-Sildedze. It's no secret that he and insolvency administrator Haralds Velmers tried to persuade the heirs to sell their shares to the Czechs.

Black Duck Invest is registered in the center of Prague. A company called VH Latvia Invest is also located at the same address. It is owned by Krsek and managed by Haralds Velmers.

HARALDS VELMERS, Member of the Supervisory Council of Olainfarm: "I am not a member of the board of this company. I am registered, but I am not active. This company is also not active."

"Nekā personīga" has received two draft agreements dated March 15. They indicate a plan to transfer Olainfarm shares to a Czech company. Its shareholders would be Black Duck Invest and the company of Velmers and Krastiņš.

HARALDS VELMERS, Member of the Supervisory Council of Olainfarm

Nekā personīga: Was there a plan to participate in the purchase of Olainfarm shares?

"Such an opportunity was considered, from these investors there was an offer to participate for me as a representative of the Latvian side, there was such a thing, yes."

NP: In the offer that Olainfarm has informed of, that Black Duck has expressed a desire to buy, are you participating in that offer or not?

"No."

KĀRLIS KRASTIŅŠ, Member of the Supervisory Council of Olainfarm: "I am a professional investment banker, I have been doing it for 21 years. I know a lot of different investors who regularly contact me with various questions. You should ask them about the nuances of Black Duck Invest. I am not directly associated with this company. I cannot blindly comment on any documents you have received."

Olmafarm has asked Velmers and Krastiņš to leave the Olainfarm council. They refuse to do so, as only the shareholders' meeting has the right to dismiss members of the supervisory council. The next meeting is scheduled for June 18, but due to the pandemic, it may not happen. In that case, Olmafarm will encourage a change of council via remote voting. Letting them go is sought by another company desiring Olainfarm shares, Recipe Plus, but they have lost Baldere-Sildedze's trust by participating in the plans to take over Olainfarm's shares.

SIGNE BALDERE-SILDEDZE, Member of the Board of JSC Olainfarm: "I do not have the documents on hand to say so, but, after all that has been offered, I can only personally conclude that this would have been the case."

NP: That they themselves were personally interested in the deal.

"Of course, within that interest, the deal would have been made. Maybe it would have succeeded by June 18, when it could have been done carefully, maybe there would have been more time to prepare it. It would have been done, and we might not have known about it until June 18 meeting when a new Olmafarm representative or proxy would attend the meeting."

The listed joint-stock company Olainfarm is in 20th place in the list of the most valuable companies in Latvia. Experts estimate that the company's price is around 220 million euros. This is significantly less than it was during Valērijs Maligins' time, when Olainfarm was in 10th place, and its value was 350 million.