CNVM suspends Prunea’s activity on the market for 5 years

Petru Prunea, General Manager of Broker Cluj, has been suspended from the capital market for five years, while Adrian Ceuca, the company’s Deputy General Manager, is banned from activities for three years, following the discovery by the Romanian National Securities Commission (CNVM) of a series of irregularities in the enterprise. Prunea and Ceuca are two of the best-known brokers on the equities market, each with over 10 years of experience. Prunea headed the company since it was founded, in 1994, and was also member of the Board of Directors of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB). Now, BVB will have to elect a new member of the Board within 20 days. Ceuca has been working for Broker since 1999. The two brokers were also fined RON 25,000 and RON 10,000, respectively. “I did not expect this. I do not know where I am heading. I think the sanction is too harsh,” Ceuca said. “I do not know what to do next. I think the sanction is extremely subjective, bias, and ill-willed,” added Prunea. These are the most significant sanctions applied of late by CNVM, considering that Broker Cluj is one of BVB’s founders, and one of the top 10 players on the market. “I will consult a specialist and contest CNVM’s decision. I am Broker Cluj’s trading and IT manager, and have nothing to do with accounting. It is impossible for a man who has not received any fines in 13 years of activity to be suspended,” Ceuca added. “We called for an emergency meeting of the Board of Directors, and by tomorrow [today], we will have new interim managers. Moreover, we will analyze the situation and direct our efforts to recover our losses,” said Adrian Ionescu, President of Broker Cluj. The equities market regulatory authority discovered 68 irregularities in the company, including transactions finalized without client approval.