Letër e Kokalarit për Frank Wisner: Garancia e American Chartered Bank për ofertën e Albpetrolit e dyshimtë

Gary Kokalari, një aktivist shqiptaro-amerikan, i ka dërguar një letër Frank Wisner-it të firmës Patton Boggs, e cila këshillon zyrtarisht qeverinë shqiptare për privatizimin e Albpetrolit. Këtë letër Kokalari ua ka percjellë elektronikisht për dijeni edhe disa zyrtarëve të  Departamentit të Shtetit Amerikan, disa kongresmenëve dhe një rrjeti të gjerë gazetarësh dhe aktivistësh në Shqipëri.

Në letrën e tij Kokalari hedh dyshime të forta për aftësinë e American Chartered Bank, një bankë lokale e Çikagos, për të garantuar ofertën e konsorciumit Vetro Silk Road për blerjen e Albpetrolit. Duke iu referuar dokumenteve publike, Kokalari thotë se kjo bankë ka një kapital të vetin që rreth 200 milion dollarë, ndërkohë që garancia për Vetro Silk Road është 100 milion dollarë. Pra, 50% e kapitalit të saj. Gjithashtu, Kokaklari njofton se ka biseduar me një përfaqsues të bankës dhe ky i fundit dukej i befasuar nga lajmi se banka e tij ishte përfshirë në një tranzaksion të tillë.

Letrën e plotë të Kokalarit në anglisht mund ta lexoni më poshtë.

E.Zaloshnja

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Frank Wisner

Patton Boggs

Frank,

Yesterday, it was reported in Albania by Top Channel TV that American Chartered Bank has provided  a guarantee to support Vetro Silk Road's acquisition of Albpetrol. http://www.top-channel.tv/english/artikull.php?id=7080

According to conversations I've had today and yesterday with representatives of American Chartered Bank (ACB), the institution is primarily a regional bank and it does not appear to be engaged in funding credit facilities in foreign countries.   Further, based on the bank's tier capital, it may be a violation of federal banking regulations for the bank to provide a $100 million financial guarantee to support the acquisition of Albpetrol.  Also, the representatives I spoke with seemed to be surprised by news that the bank was entertaining a transaction in Albania.

Have you spoken with ACB to determine if the guarantee is legitimate?  Have you examined ACB's balance sheet to determine the bank's capability to make this commitment?  In not,  why haven't you?  I would assume it's part of your mandate to provide guidance to the Albanian government to assure that you bring qualified bidders to the table.  Did you do your homework?   Or is there something else going on?  If your firm hasn't conducted appropriate due diligence on ACB (and the bidders for that matter), it would support my contention that there may be more qualified firms that could have been hired to serve as  advisor for the Albpetrol transaction.  Frankly, I don't understand why your firm could not elicit interest in Albpetrol from a larger field of qualified and credible potential bidders.

Perhaps something's been lost in Top Channel's description of the ACB credit facility, but if my understanding is correct, ACB will be providing some form of guarantee that can be called by the Albanian government if Vetro Silk Road's bid is accepted and the bidder subsequently defaults on the acquisition.  So this could potentially put ACB at risk of funding the $100 million facility.  Is this more or less correct?  If so, the link below will bring you to recent financial data on ACB (readily available on the web) that indicates ACB has total equity capital of about $200 million.   I would like you to explain how ABC is going to put itself at risk with a facility that is equal to 50% of its equity capital.  Perhaps there may be a way to structure the deal if Vetro Silk Road posted cash collateral with ACB, but this would be  highly unusual and I'm not sure that even this would pass the smell test with regulators; however, this should all be easy enough to verify.  http://www.ibanknet.com/scripts/callreports/getbank.aspx?ibnid=usa_231242
FYI - I've brought this matter to the attention of two different federal agencies.  I suggest that you make a determination about whether the Top Channel report is true, and if so, you should know because you would have undoubtedly seen what's been represented by Top Channel to be the ACB guarantee.  You should then determine if ACB did indeed issue some form of financial commitment, and if so, if ACB is financially capable of issuing such a commitment.  You should then provide comments on this issue in a public statement as soon as possible, and you should be able to turn this around in 24 hours.  Here's the telephone number for ACB's risk control group:  847-273-1638.  The FDIC Chicago field office can also address ACB's financial capabilities and can be reached at:  312--382-6000.

Please let me know if I you need any further information.  

Thank you.

Gary Kokalari