The Bucharest Tribunal on Tuesday, August 18, rejected public transport operator STB’s request to enter insolvency proceedings because the company did not submit all the documents required by law. Mayor Ciprian Ciucu called the decision “unexpected” and said he hoped the company would appeal.
The case was registered last Thursday and resolved at its first hearing on Tuesday. The tribunal said STB’s application was rejected because the company, acting as the debtor, had failed to submit all the documents required under Romania’s insolvency law, Agerpres reported.
The ruling can be appealed within seven days of being communicated.
The court also separated the insolvency applications filed by creditors in the same case and ordered their transfer to another case. Nineteen companies are listed as creditors, including Astra Vagoane Călători, Tinmar Energy, Electroputere VFU Pașcani, Romprest Servicii Integrate, and Daimler Truck&Bus Romania, according to Agerpres.
“The court rejected the insolvency request filed by STB. The reason? Missing documents,” mayor Ciprian Ciucu wrote on Facebook.
“I spoke with STB’s management, and they swear they checked them seven times and submitted everything, that the application was complete. I will check. Five indexed case files were submitted, and no one in the courtroom raised the issue of any missing documents,” he added.
Ciucu also said STB had taken the correct step by asking the court to open insolvency proceedings and argued that the process was necessary to rescue the company.
According to the mayor, Bucharest’s surface public transportation system accounts for 34% of the City Hall’s annual budget. When operating expenses are combined with STB’s debts and penalties, the total is equivalent to the municipality’s entire budget, he said.
“For a public service to be provided to the population, the first condition is that it must be affordable from a budgetary perspective. Public transportation was becoming increasingly difficult to afford,” the mayor stated.
According to him, the insolvency would prevent the accumulation of further penalties and debts and allow the company to undergo restructuring and recovery.
In mid-July, Ciprian Ciucu said STB had debts exceeding RON 1.6 billion and described the company as being in a state of “undeclared insolvency.”
irina.marica@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: Vlad Ispas/Dreamstime.com)
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